Late Morning Lullaby
by Felix Kat
Summary: Quinn is a single mom raising her daughter Beth with the help of her nanny/Rachel. Somewhere things change between the two and they start have feelings for each other.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer… I don't own glee or its characters.

Description: Quinn is a single mom raising her daughter Beth with the help of her nanny Rachel. Somewhere things change between the two and they start having feelings for each other.

Author's notes: this is something I'm dabbling with… let me know if it's worth keeping…. It's going to start out kind of mellow but will have some M rated stuff as things start to developed… all mistakes are my own.

**Late Morning Lullaby**

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><p>It was dark by the time the Quinn was done with work. She doesn't bother saying goodbye to her other co-workers as she leaves the office. Frankly, the blonde was happy to be away from those idiots, if only for a few hours then she'd have to do this all again.<p>

She was just excited to go home, get out of her tailored Armani suit, and pass out.

She quickly gets into her car making sure to squeal the tires as she drives as fast as possible towards her home. The city was a bitch to drive through, especially at night since everyone seemed to be going out to dinner at the same time.

She doesn't even know how she got home so quickly, since she'd spaced out most of the way. Which probably wasn't the safest thing. She checks the dashboard clock as she pulls into the now quiet neighborhood.

"Nine thirty at night and I'm finally home. At least I made it before ten p.m. once this week." She lets out a yawn, as she pulls into her driveway.

Quinn was one of the top editors in the city, and today has been just another long, rigorous day at work for the blonde. She couldn't wait to get inside her nice warm home so she could peel herself out of her expensive suit, and sleep for at least a week. That last part she knew wasn't going to be possible anytime soon, because she still had to work tomorrow. 'Just one more day.' She thinks positively.

Her work seemed to be piling up higher and higher, which was forcing her to work longer hours. Why was this happening? She concluded that it was due to her boss, who had to be the reincarnation of the devil. Whose soul goal was to make her life miserable. 'Congratulations it was working', she says to herself.

She stops the Audi in front of the garage before putting it into park and shutting off the engine. She never parked her car in the garage.

"I'm so freaking tired. I need a vacation." She says to herself as she opens the door to her Audi. She grabs her briefcase and purse before slamming the car door and locking it. She looks at the black Volkswagen parked next to her.

Quinn turns to walk up the curved pathway towards her front door; she notices all the lights are still on inside the house, which meant that Beth was probably still wide awake, and waiting for her to come home.

Beth, her daughter was the light of her life, and was the only thing that gave her the drive to work so hard. She wanted to be able to provide for her daughter, and give her whatever she wanted. Something Beth would never get from her father. Quinn wanted to be the best mother she could be, but being a single parent was already putting strain on the relationship between her and her daughter.

She stands outside the house and takes a moment to collect herself. She didn't want to go in right away, but instead tried to relax before entering her home. It was something she did every night, because she honestly didn't want the stress from the day to follow her inside. She slips her house key into the deadbolt and turns it to left. The unlocked door slowly opens into what she thinks is going to be a loud, crazy house, but to her surprise, a screaming five year old child doesn't bombard her. She instead was greeted with the eerie silence of her overly sized house, which in her opinion was probably too large for the two people living there.

Quinn drops her briefcase on the floor next to the entry table, then hangs up her coat in the nearby coat rack and drops her car keys along with her purse on the entry table. Her muscle strain, she can actually feel the exhaustion emanating from them. She slips off her high heel shoes before quietly sneaking into the living room. That's when she notices why the house was quiet.

Beth was currently passed out on the overly sized leather couch, and was snuggled on top of her nanny who was also asleep. Quinn can't help but find the two girls adorable. She makes her way towards the sleeping pair, kneeling down in front of the two. 'Where's a camera when you need one?'

Beth looked so cute snuggled against the brunette, her hair was wild, but at least it was clean, Quinn noticed that. Quinn brushes the girl's bangs from the sleeping girls face, she smiles at the drool that was slowly pooling on the nanny's pants. Quinn smiles, then she goes to pick up the unconscious girl from the sleeping nanny's lap. The moment she touches her daughter the nanny's eyes open.

"Oh, Miss. Fabray, I didn't hear you come in." The nanny stutters. It was kind of a surprise that both of them were sleeping, I mean it was only nine thirty. But Rachel did have to take care of a super active five year old. Rachel, her nanny was 22 years old, and has been working for her for five months. Quinn was still surprised at how well the young woman was with children, she seemed to be a natural.

"It's fine Rachel…, and I thought I told you to call me Quinn." Quinn picks up her sleeping daughter, she cradles the slumbering girl in her arms. "Was she being a handful again?" Rachel stands up from the couch, and rubs the sleep from her eyes.

"No… no she just wanted to see you before she went to bed, I guess we fell asleep waiting." Quinn frowns, Beth always wanted to see her before she went to bed, but with her working long hours the quality time with her daughter was becoming a rare activity.

"Well… I guess I should put this little lion to bed." She carries her sleeping daughter upstairs to her bedroom and lays the tiny girl in her bed.

Beth must have woken up when she felt the covers being pulled up around her.

"Mama?" She says sleepily, Quinn sits on the side of the girl's bed she runs her fingers through the young blonde's locks.

"Yes baby, it's me." Beth rolls over and snuggles further into her pillow.

"Goodnight Mama…" she says as she falls back to sleep. Quinn can't help but smile at the cuteness, she leans over and gives the sleeping girl a soft kiss on the forehead.

"Good night baby…" she whispers before getting up and leaving the young girls room. She turns on the girls Scooby-Doo nightlight before she closes the bedroom door and walks back down stairs. She hears Rachel in the kitchen and makes her way towards the nanny. When she enters, she sees the young brunette taking some food out of the microwave.

Rachel turns around and almost screams when she sees Quinn standing in the doorway.

"I'm going to have to get you a bell… you're going to give me a heart attack if you keep sneaking around like that." She sets down the warmed food on the nearby breakfast bar. Quinn eagerly sits and begins eating the shrimp and saffron rice. It was one of her favorite dishes the brunette cooked, but then again, everything the brunette made turned out spectacular. It was another reason she'd hired the brunette.

She didn't want a nanny that couldn't cook full meals for the family, and she was adamant about making sure the food was healthy, not just frozen fish sticks from a box.

Rachel seemed to be able to do anything. "Do you want a glass of wine too?" She asks as she watches the blonde inhale the food in front of her. Quinn shakes her head and not more than a second later, a full glass of red wine was placed in front of her.

"Thanks," she says as she swallows a big mouthful of food, then takes a drink of the finely aged wine. "God, I needed that." She says after drinking at least half of the wine in one pull.

"Rough day?" She notices Quinn's shoulders slump, no doubt that was an understatement.

"You have no idea." She says as she starts to pick at the food in front of her. "What about you, Beth wasn't too much today was she?"

"No, she was perfect… just like always, she just misses you during the day…" Rachel drifts off, she corks the wine bottle.

"I miss her too… stupid work, I leave before she wakes up and get home after she falls to sleep… I need a vacation." Quinn finishes off her glass of wine.

"You need to ask for better hours. They should understand that you need to spend time with your daughter… she'll be starting school soon and between work and that you guys will never get any quality time together." Quinn nods… she then holds out her empty glass. Rachel rolls her eyes, then pours her another glass. Quinn pretty much drowns herself in that glass. After Quinn finishes her wine and food, Rachel cleans up and puts the dishes in the dishwasher. Quinn watches how Rachel moves around the kitchen like it as her own. She puts the half empty bottle of wine back in the wine chiller and cleans up the rest of the mess she made earlier.

"How did I get so lucky," Quinn murmurs as she rests her forehead against the counter as she watches the brunette clean up the kitchen. Quinn was obviously feeling those two extraordinarily full glasses of wine. Rachel finishes putting away the leftovers. "And Beth likes you sooo mmmuch." Her voice is slightly slurred.

"Well, I like Beth too, she's like the sweetest kid I know." Quinn nods in agreement. "Come on, let's get you up to bed… what time do you need to be at work tomorrow?" She helps the blonde get up from the breakfast stool. Quinn grips onto the small brunette's waist as Rachel helps her to the master bedroom.

"I have to be there by seven, which means I have to leave at six thirty and be up by five… are you okay with being here before six thirty again?"

"Of course it's fine." She says as they walk up into the master bedroom.

"You know, I still don't see why you don't just stay here… we have plenty of space and then you wouldn't have to drive here every morning." Rachel sits the blonde on her bed.

Rachel wasn't a stay in nanny, she had her own place; well she lived with her parents still. Quinn had offered many times to set up a room for her, or even convert the finished basement into a mini apartment for her, but Rachel always told her no. She liked the Fabray's, and she liked being a nanny but she knew at some point they wouldn't need her anymore so she didn't want to move in only to move out in a couple of years. Beth was still young, but she would grow up and eventually Rachel's presents wouldn't be needed.

"Come on do you need help?" Rachel asks after a brief moment of silence. Quinn was watching her as she found a pair of silk pajamas for her to wear. She slowly unbuttons her blazer and lays it on the bed. Rachel quickly grabs it and hangs it on the nearby hanger. When she turns around Quinn, is sitting in her bra.

Rachel looks away, she can't help but blush a little. I mean this was her boss after all. Quinn on the other hand, was too far out of it to notice the younger girl's shyness. She pulls on the silk pajama top and starts to button it.

"So I was thinking…" Rachel grabs the discarded blouse and hangs it up too. "Beth and I could go into the city tomorrow. She said she wanted to go to the park and play if that's okay with you?" When Rachel turns back around Quinn is lying on her back trying to shimmy out of her pants, she was failing miserably, and was almost tempted to give up altogether. Rachel can't help but stare, it takes her a moment to snap out of it. "A-and… I was thinking maybe if your schedule wasn't too busy we could stop by at lunchtime, and maybe you two could have some mother daughter time together." She watches as Quinn's pants finally fall to the floor. "You know, like having lunch together."

Quinn sits back up.

"You know that's a great idea. I mean, if you're willing to drive her there," she yawns as she sits up her king sized bed and crawls under the cloud comforter. She didn't bother putting on the silk pants… because in the end she would somehow shimmy out of them during the night.

"Of course… plus it gets us out of the house for a few hours."

Rachel stands there for a moment before bending over to pick up the dress pants and hang them up.

"You're too good for us Rachel Berry." Quinn says sleepily as her eyes slowly close. Rachel smiles at the comment. She then quickly walks to the bedroom door and flips off the light.

"Goodnight Quinn."

"Goodnight Rachel…" and just before Rachel could close the door to leave Quinn shoots up in bed. "Oh, and drive home safe, and text me so I know you made it…" she says before she lays back down.

"Absolutely." It wasn't anything new, Quinn always told her to drive safe and text her to make sure she got home okay.

Rachel quickly did a once over of the house, checking on Beth before grabbing her stuff and walking out the door. She switched off the lights as she went, before walking out the door and activating the silent alarm, then finally locking both door locks. Quinn was woken from her sleep fifteen minutes later, as her phone went off. Rachel must have set it next to her before she left. She quickly reaches for the cell and checks the message. It was from Rachel, and it said she made it home. Quinn texted back Goodnight and fell back to sleep with little effort. Tomorrow would be another busy day, but at least she would see her daughter for lunch.

End…

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><p>This is something I've been thinking about and finally attempted to write…<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer… I don't own glee or its characters.

Description: Quinn is a single mom raising her daughter Beth with the help of her nanny Rachel. Somewhere things change between the two and they start having feelings for each other.

Author's notes: All mistakes are my own. I'm shocked with all the reviews for the first chapter. I'm glad it caught some good attention, hopefully I can keep you all interested… you know, no pressure.

**Late Morning Lullaby**

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><p>Set five months ago…<p>

Quinn frantically runs around the house. It wasn't an uncommon occurrence, her house was like her own personal gym at least twice a week. She'd walk up the stairs, back down, into the kitchen, maybe a few squats, and then repeat until she felt like she'd accomplished her workout. Which usually was when she found whatever object she was searching for.

"Keys… come on… where the hell, " she dumps out the remnants of her purse on the entry table, but doesn't find what she's looking for. "Come ON!" She scrapes the contents back into her purse before she started frantically searching for her keys again. "This can't… okay think… where did I?" She walks back into the living room and flips all the cushions of the couch.

"Dammit, where did I put those keys!" She groans out. "Beth! Hurry up, we need to leave soon!" She yells up the stairs before making her way into the kitchen. She takes in her surroundings, trying to focus on any possible hiding places her stuff somehow liked to move to. "Okay…" she looks at the fridge. 'No, I didn't, I wouldn't put them there,' she thinks while eyeing the suspicious looking fridge. 'But it's the only place I haven't looked…' she opens the door to the stainless-steel appliance, and scans the shelves. Sure enough sitting next to the jug of skim milk was her damn keys. "Great… I found them." She jingles them in triumph as she grabs them. Then shuts the door to the fridge with an unnecessary amount of force. She walks back into the living room gathering her briefcase from the living room floor. "Come on baby!" She yells up the stairs again. "Mama's running late, and I still need to drop you off at Grandma's house!" She doesn't hear a reply from her daughter, but can hear Beth walking down the wooden stairs.

Quinn is busy putting on her shoes.

"Baby, are you ready…" she looks up, and notices Beth is still wearing her pajamas. "Aw, baby you didn't change into the clothes I laid out for you."

The girl was still wearing her Scooby-Doo footy pajamas.

"I don't want to go to Grandmas." The young girl says with a pout.

"Beth, please mama is running late okay, just grab the clothes and lets go." She says, she was starting to lose her patience. Her morning was already stressful, and she hadn't even left the house yet.

Beth doesn't move from the stairs.

"But I haven't had my cereal, and grandma's cereal is yucky." Beth says.

Quinn kneels down in front of her daughter. She brushes the tangled hair from the still sleepy girl's face, and gives her a small smile. She couldn't take her stress out on Beth, it wasn't her fault they were running late.

"I know baby, but Mama worked late last night and forgot to set an alarm. That's why I wasn't up in time to make you breakfast like I usually do, but I need to get to work okay. So help me out, and go pack those clothes into your Scooby-Doo backpack, and I'll grab your box of Spooky-o's okay?"

Beth gives her a small nod, then dashed back up the stairs. Quinn quickly walks back into the kitchen and grabs the unopened box of Spooky-o's from the counter. Her favorite mornings were when Beth and her ate breakfast together. She was actually sad she didn't get to drink her morning cup of coffee, while Beth slurped the chocolaty puffed cereal. But there was nothing she could do about it now.

By the time she makes her way back to the entryway, Beth was already pulling on her kid pair of lime green Crocs. Quinn let out a sigh of relief. Now all she had to do is get her daughter to her mom's house.

"You ready?" She grabs her briefcase, purse, and makes her way to the front door. She holds it open as the five year old runs through it, her backpack flopping wildly around on her back.

This was their weekly routine, wake up, eat breakfast, and then take Beth to grandmas before she went to work. Sometimes hidden variables arise, like keys spontaneously moving into the refrigerator, or forgetting to grab her cell phone. But for the most part this routine seemed to work for them.

Quinn's mom had been looking after Beth ever since she started back at work, at first it was great, she'd always wanted a strong relationship between her mom and daughter, but now driving across town in the morning was becoming stressful.

By the time she gets to her moms, Beth was passed out in her car seat. Car rides always seemed to do that to the girl, no matter what time of day it was. She smiles at the image in the rearview mirror. She puts the car into park before slipping out to open the door to the back seat and unstrap the sleeping child. She doesn't bother shutting off the engine, because she knew she couldn't stay exceptionally long. She grabs the girls backpack and sugary cereal from the car before walking towards her mother's front porch.

The door swings open, and her mom dressed in her morning robe steps out to help her daughter.

"You're running late I take it." She takes Beth's bag from Quinn.

"Yeah, I forgot to set my alarm. Anyways, we had a busy morning, so she hasn't had breakfast, or as you can see, gotten dressed." Quinn's mom smiles at the sleeping girl.

"Oh, that's fine honey… here, bring her inside." She motions the two inside.

Quinn follows her mom inside and lays the sleeping girl on the couch, then covers her with one of the throw blankets.

"There was something I wanted to talk to you about this morning…"

Quinn nods, but there isn't any time to talk. She gives her mom a quick hug before making her way back towards the open door.

"Yeah? It's gonna have to wait… I mean I'm already going to be ten minutes late, and I'm supposed to have a meeting at nine." She trails off.

"Of course, it's fine sweetie, we can talk tonight." The older lady gives Quinn a quick kiss before sending her on her way.

The thrills of work were what she had to focus on. It sucked, but soon the weekend would be here, and then she could lounge around with Beth.

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><p>Later that night<p>

Quinn's day at work was a blur, which wasn't good since she was supposed to be in charge of several important projects her company was organizing. She was thankful her assistant takes outstanding notes.

She was just relieved it was over, and she only had one more day until she could relax the weekend away.

She drives back to pick up her daughter from her mom's house. She'd gotten a text at eight thirty about dinner, and it was now nine as she pulled into her mom's drive way. She knocks once before entering the house, usually she's attacked by her daughter when she comes to pick her up, but tonight the house seemed quiet. A little too quiet for comfort.

"Mom?" Her voice cracks slightly.

"In here Quinn." Her mom's voice rings from the kitchen. The smell of food hit her full force, and made her mouth water. There was nothing better than a home cooked meal.

She walks into the kitchen and sees her mom pulling a roast from the oven.

"Hey." She says as she eyes the delicious food. She picks at the green beans sitting on the counter top.

"Hey sweetie, the food will be done soon. How was your day at work?" Her mom closes the oven door.

"Fine… well fine in the sense that my brain is fried. My boss keeps piling on projects."

"Sounds busy… you should ask for time off…" she makes a sincere suggestion, one Quinn knew couldn't happen.

"I can't. There's just too much stuff going on right now, since I just got this promotion as an editor, and I need to perform. Sue keeps saying that I'm the youngest editor they have and I should be working twice as hard to prove myself." Her boss was a hard ass.

"Your boss is crazy, you work harder than half the company put together… and you should get a break for it. That's what I actually wanted to talk to you about this morning. Why don't we sit in the living room for a bit."

She follows her mom into the room and sits on the floral printed love seat.

"So…?" She was somewhat intrigued to find out what her mother wanted to talk to her about. They rarely had conversations that required her to sit and listen. The last one was probably five years ago when she told her mom she was pregnant.

"Well, I've been thinking a lot lately about Beth and you, and I realized that this whole situation with me watching her isn't working exceptionally well." That was something she wasn't expecting to hear.

"Mom…"

"No, I don't mean I don't want to watch her, I'm saying that I'm getting old…" Quinn was still confused. She shakes her head, trying to wrap her mind around what her mother was getting at.

"I don't understand?"

"Beth is a very active girl, and I love her to pieces, but I can't keep up with her anymore. So I've been thinking about it, and I think it would be beneficial for Beth to have a nanny."

"A nanny? But…" the thought had never occurred to her.

Her mom stops her.

"Look, I know you have trust issues about letting a stranger be around your daughter, but I think having a nanny would take loads of stress off you. I mean you wouldn't have to get the poor girl up at the break of dawn, or have to pick her up after work."

That was a valid point, but what about the negatives.

"But I mean… I wouldn't even know where to find a nanny. Are they like listed or something, plus then I would have to set up interviews and… and aren't nanny's supposed to be like old people anyway?" Her mom laughs slightly, shaking her head no in the process.

"Look, I know the idea might seem overwhelming, but it just so happens I know someone who I think would be perfect for the job." Of course she knew someone, her mom knew everyone.

"Who?"

"You remember the Berry's, your father used to work with one of them, anyway their daughter is looking for a job, and I thought she'd be perfect."

The idea of a nanny was tempting, but she didn't know if she could trust a stranger watching Beth.

"Look it sounds like a good idea, but I mean what do you even know about this girl, she could be… I don't know a pervert or something…" Quinn says trying to put the whole situation in perspective. Her mom slaps her on the leg.

"Hush your mouth, I've met Rachel Berry on numerous occasions, and she is nothing but polite. She's very mature for her age, and I think she would be a positive role model for Bethy."

"I don't know, Ma… can I think about this." Quinn says as she runs her hands through her hair. It was a lot to take in.

"Well, I was hoping you'd consider it, since she's upstairs right now playing with Beth." Her mom says slowly.

Quinn all but stands in shock and walks to the stairs, 'a stranger was upstairs, alone, with her child'. Her motherly instincts to protect swing into full alert. Her mom follows her upstairs, she quickly walks down the darkly lit hallway toward the guest room. Inside, she can hear a small girl laughing about something, along with another voice that seemed to be equally amused at whatever the two were talking about.

Quinn pushes the door all the way open and stands in the doorway. She sees Beth sitting on the floor eagerly talking about something to the girl she assumed was Rachel. The two of them look up to the doorway when they see Quinn standing there. Beth squeals when she sees her mom.

"Mama!" Beth jumps to her feet and runs to her mom, throwing her arms around Quinn's waist.

"Hey sweetie…" she says as she hugs the little girl.

Quinn watches as the girl dressed in a poke-a-dotted dress stood up.

The girl straightens out the dress and stands there awkwardly, watching the two of them interact.

"Who's your friend Bethy?" She asks. She wanted to find out more about the woman in the room. Beth immediately detaches herself and spins around to Rachel.

"This is Rachel…, and she's a singer… or was a singer." The girl smiles then extends her hand to Quinn.

"Rachel Berry." She says, her rich voice cutting the airwaves with ease. Quinn hesitantly shakes the brunette's hand, not wanting to hire the girl in front of her just because she sounded polite. "I hope you don't mind, Beth here was just telling me all about her favorite TV show, and we lost track of time."'

The girl didn't look like a nanny, hell she looked too young. How could her mom possibly think this girl was qualified to take care of her child. She looked like a child herself.

"Bethy why don't you go downstairs with Grandma and help set the table."

"Come on sweetie." Judy, her mom grabs the young girl's hand. "Be nice." She whispers to Quinn before she leaves with an energetic five year old in hand.

"So… um, my mom said you were looking for a job? And that you could somehow be helpful to me." She says eyeing up the girl in front of her. She's not actually sure how this was supposed to work, but small talk might help.

"Yeah… my dad's actually told me about it. I guess your mom keeps in touch with them still." The room goes quiet. "Look, I know you don't know me, and I'm not expecting you to trust me when I say I'm good with children. So here's my resumé…" she pulls out a piece of paper from her purse. "I'm not a registered nanny or anything like that, but I have had some babysitting experience and I'm willing to start on a trial basis too."

Quinn eyes the resumé.

"Who are all these people?" She briefly looks at the paper, seeing at least twenty names listed on it. Along with background information, and an assorted list of her skills.

"Just parents I've worked with, those are there numbers, I'm sure if you call them, they can give you some background information about me, and I have a wide variety of skills listed there also."

"Okay, Rachel, I'm just going to be frank about this. I need help, and I'm willing to look past your young age, but I need someone I can rely on, and if you think you can be more than a babysitter, then I'll consider you, but if you can't then I need you to take this paper back." She extends it back to the girl. The girl eyes the paper again, but doesn't take it back.

"I can be that…, and if you give me a chance I'd like to prove it to you." She says simply, her face looked almost to determine to prove it.

Quinn eyes her. Giving her another once over before excepting the girls answer.

"Fine… I'm going to call these people and see what they think. But I want you to come over to my place on Saturday, and we'll see if you can perform. My mom might think you're qualified to watch Beth, but I need to see it for myself."

"That seems fair. I would be just as cautious, I mean, if I had kids…"

"Okay, I'll see you Saturday… here's my address." She scribbles down her house number on one of her business cards and hands it to the brunette. Rachel eagerly accepts it. "Be there at ten fifteen."

"Thank you Miss Fabray, you won't regret this" Rachel shook Quinn's hand before escorting herself out.

Finding herself famished the Fabray family dug into their meal. Quinn's mom kept eyeing her from across the table until Quinn could no longer take the subtle glances.

"What?" She asks finally giving up.

"So… what did you think of her?" Quinn takes another bite of her roast beef, she chews it slowly to prevent having to answer the question. She shrugs her answer instead.

"Well, I like her…"Beth gleams as she used her fingers to pick of a green bean.

"See, Beth likes her." Her mom smiles at the girl triumphantly. Giving the young girl a wink of approval.

"Beth, doesn't even know what we're talking about, baby use your fork please." Beth reluctantly grabs her fork and attempts to stab the cut up food on her plate. But after several failed attempts to stab her food she resorts back to using her fingers. Quinn notices this right away, but pretends not to see it.

"Oh come on, she's a great girl."

"Exactly, she's a girl. I just don't know if she's going to be able to be what I need her to be. I mean how old was she anyway?"

"I think she's twenty one, but seriously…"

"Ma, do you really think a twenty one year old should seriously be taking care of Beth?" Quinn's mom shrugs. She liked Rachel, and knew the girl would be a perfect fit in Quinn's house.

"You were only twenty four when you had her, and look at how well you've raised her."

Quinn couldn't tell if that was a compliment, or a jab on her parenting skills so she intended to ignore the remark altogether.

"Fine, if you must know, I told her to come over on Saturday. If her references check out, and she can handle my standards I might, and I said might… give her a chance. But that's a big might." Her mom seems pleased by her answer, and they all go back to enjoying their meal.

"That's all I ask."

That night after Quinn had wrestled with Beth to take a bath, and had finally gotten her to sleep. She looked over Rachel's references. There were quite a few of them, but it was pretty late to be calling anyway, so she opted to wait until tomorrow.

The next morning went by a lot smoother that yesterday. Quinn and Beth even had time to eat at home before going over to grandmas. Today was Friday, so Quinn's job was busy as hell, but she did find time to call several people on Rachel's list. All of them said the same thing about Rachel. Pretty much everyone on the list said she could be trusted, and that she could handle more than one child.

The best conversation was with a lady who had three boys, who basically said the girl was a miracle worker. She said that she was the only sitter that actually got her kids to bathe, and be in bed before she got home. The lady couldn't stop raving about Rachel, it was somewhat overwhelming.

By the time she got to the end of Rachel's list she was convinced, Rachel Berry had an exceptional record of accomplishments. She knew how to cook and kept a clean house. She was active with the children and kept them busy with arts and crafts. She seemed too good to be true, like a modern day Mary Poppins, which was how she was actually described by one of her references. It was all a little daunting, but it did put her at ease for Saturday.

It all came down to Saturday, if Rachel could prove to Quinn that she wasn't just a twenty one year old party girl, she would hire her.

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><p>Saturday<p>

Rachel arrived on time at the Fabray home, not a minute late. Which for Quinn was a plus, and gave the girl a point in the pass column. Quinn met the girl at the door.

"Rachel you made it, come on in." Quinn says as she opens the door a little wider and ushers the girl inside. It was kind of cold outside, and she didn't want to leave the door open any longer than necessary.

"It's good to see you again, Miss Fabray. You have a lovely home." Rachel takes off her coat and shoes in the front entryway.

"Thank you. I see you found the place alright." Rachel nods.

"Yeah, I actually live not too far from here. So I know the neighborhood pretty well."

After a quick tour of the downstairs, they ended up in the kitchen. Quinn wanted to test to make sure the girl could actually cook, and used this time to interview Rachel.

Rachel so far seemed to answer the questions with ease.

"So I called some of your references, they all seemed to say the same thing about you." Rachel didn't look surprised. She just nodded politely and gave Quinn a small smile.

"Yes, well, I liked working for them. And I realize this won't be like babysitting, you're probably concerned that because I'm young I won't be reliable, but I can assure you, I take everything seriously. And I'm looking for a full time job, not just a once a week thing like a babysitter."

Quinn took that answer as a good thing. Rachel seemed determined to get this job, and looked like she was willing to work hard for it.

"I'm a little shocked you would say that, most twenty one year olds are a little less centered around commitments such as this."

"Yes, but I am."

"… Well, since you've already passed the informal test, now we can start the practical. I want to see these well renown cooking skills your references mentioned."

"You want to see me cook?" She asks with some confusion.

"Yup... Whenever you're ready."

Rachel smiles, then starts going through the cupboards.

"I guess I should ask, Beth isn't allergic to anything? You know, like peanut butter or shellfish?" There's another point for Rachel Berry.

"Nope… no food allergies." Rachel smiles she obviously noticed she earned brownie points for asking.

"What about you… anything I should avoid?"

"Nope… I eat anything, well anything not processed in a box. Other than cereal… that won't be a problem will it, cooking I mean."

"Oh no, I actually expect to… I guess I should start."

Quinn continues to interrogate Rachel as she makes her meal. The house is filled with the sweet aroma of food. Quinn was actually salivating at the smell, and thirty minutes later a plate of saffron rice and shrimp was placed in front of her.

"Did you go to culinary school?" She asks as the beautiful plate of food was placed in front of her.

"Nope… I just enjoy cooking, it's one of my hobbies. I actually was enrolled at Julliard for music."

Quinn takes a bite of the food and lets out a moan of approval. Rachel smiles. She knew she could cook, and enjoyed seeing the reaction people got when they taste her food.

"This is fantastic…, and Julliard… did you finish?"

Rachel's looks at the hardwood floor.

"No, I'm taking a break right now." This set up a red flag.

"Why did you leave, if you don't mind me asking." She didn't know why this bothered her, just getting into Julliard was impressive. Maybe it was because she said she was taking a break.

"Um, is kind of personal, but I don't know, I guess I just lost the drive to stay. Singing was a passion for me, but once I got there it seemed to become more of a burden, and I didn't like that. So I moved back in with my dads. Now I'm just trying to find something that makes me happy again."

And the red flag was gone.

"So where is Beth… I was hoping I could see her again." Rachel says, effectively changing the topic.

"She's upstairs, she couldn't stop talking about you all yesterday, so I don't think we'll have a problem there."

"She seems like a sweet kid."

"She can be, but she can also be a little lion. Do you think you can handle that?"

"Absolutely."

Rachel cleaned up the kitchen, and then they both went upstairs. Beth practically jumped the girl when she saw her.

"RACHEL!" The girl hugs onto Rachel.

"Hey… it's good to see you again." She gives the young girl a slight hug.

"Beth, I'm thinking about hiring Rachel here to look after you during the days when I'm at work. How would you feel about that?"

"Really… like Rachel will be here every day?" The girl lets out a happy squeal.

"I'm guessing that's a yes." Quinn asks as the girl seems to be a little too excited. "So you're okay with Rachel being your nanny?"

"Yes… Yes, a thousand times yes!" The girl squeals again.

"Wow… well, thank you Beth. I think we're going to have loads of fun. Here, I brought you something too…" Quinn looks at Rachel questionably. Rachel pulls out a DVD from her purse. "I didn't think she'd be excited about having a nanny, so I thought you two could watch this."

The Movie is Nanny McPhee.

"It has a good message behind it, and kind of shows what a nanny is. I thought you guys would enjoy it."

She hands the movie to Beth, who seems excited to watch the movie.

"That was a cute idea, with the movie."

"It's nothing… I just saw it and thought it could be relevant, you know fun for you both."

In the end how could Quinn say no. She could at least give the girl a try, Rachel seemed to be able to calm any situation, and Beth seemed to like to be around her.

"So I think it's safe to say Beth likes you." Quinn is walking Rachel to the door. "And I think we can trust her judgment when it comes to people. So I think we should give this arrangement a shot. I mean you're young, but you seem able to give Beth what she needs when I'm at work. So I'm willing to give this a try, you start on Monday, I need you here at six thirty, okay?" Rachel immediately smiles.

"Of course Miss Fabray… you have no idea how much this means to me." She shakes Quinn's hand again, while giving her a megawatt smile. Quinn couldn't help but return the gesture. She hoped Rachel would last the next week.

"Let's just see how you do in a week… then we'll decide where to go from there."

"Right."

"And you can call me Quinn, Miss Fabray is my mother." She adds.

"Right... Quinn, thank you. I won't let you down."

Five months later… Rachel was still working for Quinn.

End.

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><p>Just a little flashback… I thought it would be amusing. Hopefully it stands up with the first chapter.<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer… I don't own glee or its characters.

Description: Quinn is a single mom raising her daughter Beth with the help of her nanny Rachel. Somehow things change between the two and they start having feelings for each other.

Author's notes: All mistakes are my own. The reviews seemed good from the last chapter, I'm glad this story caught some attention, and hopefully I can keep you all interested… you know, no pressure. I really want this to be a longer story, but I make no guarantees.

**Late Morning Lullaby**

* * *

><p>It never stopped ticking, the clock in Quinn's dreams, it always seemed to be slowly counting down to zero.<p>

This then would lead to her tossing and turning as she tried to will her dream to something else, but as much as she willed it, the clock always stayed. Always ticking.

Two minutes and thirteen seconds, she could see it in her mind, the numbers flashing in bright red. She knew that in two minutes and thirteen seconds she would be ripped from her slumber and forced to acknowledge the new day. And even if Quinn knew that she was going to have to get up, she never opened her eyes before her alarm actually went off. Instead, she would lie in her oversized bed and count down with the clock.

It always puzzled her, why she never dreamt of anything else, why didn't she have dreams of falling or flying? Why did she always have to have this dream? Was she really so fixated on time that even as she slept time had to be present, did the clock represents her fears of losing time, or was it just to internalize her anxieties. She didn't know. What she did know was that in ten seconds time would run out.

She rolls over on her side, anticipating the alarm, her eyes still closed, 3…2…1. Then that shrill buzzing erupted from her phone, her eyes then immediately opened. She swings her arm hitting the phone that was currently wailing at her to get up.

Quinn successfully makes sure it is off, but still doesn't get out of bed. Instead, she lays there, waiting for something more important that was about to happen, something she'd become dependent on before starting her day.

Not more than two minutes later her phone chimes again. She grabs the phone and looks at the screen, and at the message she'd just received. It was from Rachel.

-You better be up.

The text reads. It was as if Rachel had just pounded on her bedroom door to make sure she was up. Even though Rachel was across town just waking up herself.

Quinn couldn't help but smile slightly. She didn't know why she waited or needed to get that message in the morning, but for whatever reason it motivated her to get out of bed.

It all started a few months after Rachel had started working for her. Quinn was still waking up late for work, not because she didn't set an alarm, but because she would hit the snooze button too many times. Rachel would arrive then to a frantic Quinn running around the house trying to get ready, and stressing because she was running late. After that, Rachel had suggested she could text or call her to get her up since she was up at that time anyway.

Evidently Rachel had a pretty rigorous morning routine that she woke up for, it involved a thirty minute workout on the elliptical, and a well implemented hygiene regiment afterwards. So she was up at the same time as Quinn. The only thing that was different now was before she worked out she would send a text to Quinn to make sure she was up too, and if she didn't get a reply she would call. And for the most part it worked. Quinn didn't oversleep or hit the snooze button on her phone anymore.

Quinn quickly texts a message back, making sure Rachel knew she was up and moving. She then sat up in bed, letting the comforter fall off of her. She takes a moment to stretch before slipping her legs over the side of the bed. She hesitates placing her feet on the floor, knowing that the wood floor was going to be cold on her feet, but does it anyway as she stands. She can't help but shiver slightly.

She then lets out a yawn as she makes her way into the ensuite bathroom, turning on the lights as she went.

She briefly looks at the bathroom mirror, taking in her appearance, her blonde hair was beyond messy "Ug… good morning Bedhead." She attempts to get her hair under control, then she turns on the shower to let the water warm up.

If there was one thing she hated in the mornings, it was a cold shower. She then unbuttons her silk pajama top and lets it pool on the floor at her feet, which was soon followed by the rest of her clothing. She then waits for the steam in the shower to build before opening the glass door and stepping inside, and letting the warmth of the water take a hold of her.

Morning showers, there was just something about them that seemed to relax her. Even if it was only for fifteen minutes. These fifteen minutes were phenomenal. She then stepped out of the shower, clean and wide awake, wrapping herself in a big white towel. From there, Quinn's routine was pretty much the same as it was every day. She toweled dried her hair before using a blow dryer, brushed her teeth, then picked up her discarded clothes and put them in her hamper. Next she went to her closet, her towel still pulled tightly around her.

She decided on wearing a simple black pencil skirt with a slightly ruffled white blouse. She then pulled out a simple single buttoned overcoat and a pair of black pumps.

After she got dressed, she would do her hair and makeup, which wasn't something she over stressed about. The only thing she took her time with was her eye makeup. She always thought of her eyes as her best feature.

By the time she was finished it was six am, she had a half hour before she had to leave, so she quickly cleaned up her room, making sure she made her bed before moving into the rest of the sleeping house. Before going down stairs, she quickly stuck her head in Beth's room. The girl was still sleeping, she could see that she was still tightly snuggled into her pillow, but had kicked most of the blankets off of her.

"What a goof." Quinn whispered to herself, she then quietly shut the girls' door before making her way downstairs. She dropped her shoes at the front entryway. Then proceeded to disarm the security system Rachel had set before she'd left last night. Quinn then unlocked both locks and opened the door to retrieve the morning paper.

The morning air was still chilly, but there wasn't a cloud in the sky, it was going to be a beautiful day. Too bad she would be spending most of her day indoors.

After grabbing the morning paper she walked back into the kitchen, the pot of coffee was already percolating, it was set on a timer, so she didn't have to worry about making it in the morning. She instead makes her way towards the toaster and pops in two pieces of multigrain bread. She waited patiently for her coffee and toast to get done.

She pours two cups of coffee, one black the other with cream. Then she sat down at the breakfast bar and dug into her delicious toast, while she read the morning paper.

"Huh… they're searching for old civil war planes… I didn't know they had planes in the civil war…" she can't help but giggle at the article.

She hears the front door open. She knew it was Rachel, arriving well before she had to. She listened to the muffled noises coming from the front entry as Rachel slipped off her shoes and placed her keys on the entry table. She then listens to the light footsteps making their way into the kitchen.

"Good morning." She gives Rachel a warm smile.

Rachel was dressed like always, her style was clean yet fashionable. She wore a simple blue blouse with a pair of skinny jeans.

"Good morning to you too." She says with a cheerful voice. Rachel was a morning person, that much Quinn knew, but on the other hand, she dreamed she could sleep in until noon.

"That was never going to happen…," she thinks out loud.

"What?" Rachel obviously heard her.

"Nothing… Your coffee's by the coffee pot." Rachel quickly makes her way over to the pot and grabs the now perfect temperature coffee. She takes a small sip before walking back over to the breakfast table and sitting down next to Quinn.

A peaceful silence envelopes the kitchen while they both enjoyed their perfectly brewed cup of coffee. Quinn skimmed one side of the newspaper as Rachel skimmed the other side.

"So, how did you sleep last night?" Rachel asks as Quinn flipped the page of the paper.

"Um… I don't know. Okay, I guess, but I'm still having that damn clock dream." She says looking up from the paper.

"The one where you count down with the clock?" Rachel asks, they've talked about it before.

"Yeah, it's so infuriating. It's like when I do dream, it's about that damn clock." She scoffs, she hated that damn clock. "What about you, anything good in your dreams?" Quinn enjoyed hearing about the girl's dreams, at least they tended to change, unlike her own.

Rachel thinks about it for a moment. She had a hard time remembering everything she dreamt about.

"Well, I think there was one that I was accepting some sort of award… I don't really know what, but I distinctly remember flashing lights from a camera's, and me up in front of the crowed." She has to stop and think about what happened next. "You know, I don't really remember what happened next, I just remember it was weird. I might have been naked…" she trails off. Quinn doesn't seem fazed, she actually envied the girl's dreams.

"See, why can't I have a weird dream?" Quinn pouts as she takes another sip of her coffee.

"Well the fact that you're still having the same dream is a little weird."

Quinn doesn't seem convinced.

"Yeah…" she lets out some frustration. "Well, I guess since you're here means it's about time for me to go." She hated the fact that she now had to get on with her day. She goes to stand up, but Rachel stops her.

"You still have plenty of time… I got here early. So sit back down and finish your coffee."

Quinn does just that. Not a moment later, Beth walks into the kitchen. The sleepy girl was rubbing her eyes.

"Mama?" Beth's voice sounded like she was still asleep.

"Well, look who's up." Quinn smiles, usually Beth slept in now that she didn't have to go to Grandma's in the morning. "What are you doing up so early baby?"

The young girl lets out a small yawn.

"I wanted to see you before you left for work." She mumbles.

"You did… aw, come here" Quinn opens up her arms, and Beth slowly steps into them. Quinn lifts her onto her lap and holds her close, moving some of the messed up hair from her face. She couldn't help noticing how similar they looked when they woke up, both always had massive bed hair. "So do you want some coffee?" She asks the sleepy girl as a joke, ruffling Beth's hair as she offers her the coffee cup.

"No…" the girl pushes it away.

"What, no coffee?" Quinn tries again.

"No mama, coffee is yucky." She makes a face of disgust.

"Oh well, I guess you can have something else… I'm sure Rachel is going to make you an amazing breakfast." Rachel smiles and nods. She can help but find the interaction between the two to be anything but adorable. "Sooo… guess what you get to do today?" She pokes the girl side lightly causing her to squirm in Quinn's arms.

"Stop mama!" The girl starts to giggle uncontrollably as Quinn continues to tickle her sides.

"Rachel is going to bring you to my office for lunch today." Beth's face lights up with excitement. She was always asking about her mom's work.

"And we're going to visit the park to feed the ducks," Rachel adds. Making the girl even more excited.

"Does that sound like a plan?"

"Yes!" The young girl says with a little too much excitement for the morning.

"Well good," Quinn looks at the stove clock, it was now six thirty, and she had to leave for work. "But now I have to go to work." She hugs Beth tightly before placing her back on the ground and getting up from the breakfast bar. "I'll text you once I get to the office, okay?" She says to Rachel who nods. "And you Missy, be good for Rachel, and I'll see you in a couple of hours." She kisses the sleepy girls head. Before waving bye to Rachel and making her way towards the front door gathering up her essentials before slipping on her heels and walking out the front door.

In the kitchen, Rachel just finished her coffee when she notices Quinn phone sitting by the coffee pot. She quickly gets up and grabs the phone before running to the door to catch Quinn before she left.

"Wait!" Rachel yells as she waves the phone at the Audi backing up the driveway. Quinn must have noticed her, because her car stopped. Rachel walks up to the driver side window that was now rolling down. Quinn looks at her questioningly, as Rachel hands her the phone, shaking her head at the blonde.

"It's gonna be kind of hard to text me without this." She says.

"Thanks Rachel…" she gives her a half smile, "I'll see you in a few hours." She waved one last time to the nanny.

Rachel goes back inside once Quinn's car can no longer be seen. Beth was standing in the front window, she'd been watching them. Rachel shakes her head at the young blonde.

"Your mama. I swear she would lose her head if it wasn't attached to her body." Beth laughs, because it was true. Even though Rachel seemed to have helped organize Quinn's morning routine the blonde was still kind of forgetful. "Now, we have a lot to do today, so now that you're up we might as well start the day, don't you think?" Rachel says. "So why don't we start by brushing those teeth of yours?"

"But…" the girl was about to argue.

"Then as soon as you're finished you can watch some Scooby Doo while I make you breakfast."

"Really…"

"Absolutely… so what are you hungry for?"

"Spooky-o's" Beth says with some excitement.

"Spooky-o's again?" The little girl nods, "okay… but after you brush those little pearly whites of yours."

Rachel follows Beth upstairs, she helps the girl squeeze the toothpaste onto her lime green toothbrush.

As Beth brushed her teeth, Rachel goes to pick her out an outfit for the day. She pulls out a pair of blue jeans along with a yellow Hoodie that had flower prints lining the hood. She was about to go and check on Beth when the girl screamed.

"RACHEL!" Rachel runs into the bathroom and notices Beth holding her mouth.

"What happened? Are you okay?" She pulls the girl's hand away from her mouth. The first thing she notices was the blood. "Oh honey, what happened?"

"My tooth was loose, and then it fell out. Now my mouth is bleeding." The girl is almost in tears. Rachel quickly grabs a Kleenex and dabs it in the running sink water.

"Okay, open up, and let's see." Beth opens her mouth slowly, and sure enough she'd lost her first tooth. All that was there now was a space. Rachel wipes off the blood, then places the Kleenex in the space. "Okay, now bite down a little." She instructs the girl.

"Rachel, am I gonna die?" The girl mumbles through closed teeth.

"What… no sweetie, you'll be fine trust me. You just lost a tooth, but you'll grow another one." She reassures the girl.

"But I don't want to lose my teeth." Beth mumbles.

"Aw Beth, its normal to lose your baby teeth, that just means you're growing up. "

This then turned into a very lengthy discussion about who the tooth fairy was, and why she took your teeth. In the end, Beth seemed to be excited that she would be visited by the tooth fairy.

Meanwhile, Quinn was busy at work. The day was going by faster than usual; she'd already cleared her schedule for lunch and was currently skimming through yesterday's unfinished work. She had gotten a text from Rachel saying that Beth had something to show her when they got there. However, she wouldn't say what it was. Only that it wasn't bad.

Her assistant had just brought her a new cup of coffee along with her mail. She quickly skimmed through it, and was just about to excuse her assistant when the door to her office swung open.

"What's up lovelies?"

"Santana", Quinn didn't need to say anything more, her co-worker slash best friend was always slacking off, especially on Fridays. It was nothing new. Santana shamelessly eyes up Quinn's assistant before turning her attention back to Quinn. "You can go Ashley… remember when Rachel and Beth get here, send them right in okay?" The assistant nods, and then quickly exits the office. "I really wish you'd stop doing that." Quinn was slightly irritated.

"Doing what?" Her friend asked with way too sweet a voice.

"I mean it Santana… no more sleeping with my assistants. I can't afford to train a new one every month, because of you. Can't you hire your own to sleep with, because I actually need mine to do my job."

"Damn girl, settle down. Plus, I'm not sleeping with your assistant…" Santana sits down on Quinn's office couch. She crosses her legs before adding "yet." Quinn groans in frustration.

"Santana…"

"Fine, but if she comes on to me, it's fair game."

"Whatever… why are you even here?" She rubs her forehead before going back to work. Santana shrugs.

"No reason," she says while inspecting her fingernails, "I was just bored. Why, you got someplace to be?" Santana knew full well she didn't have anywhere else to be, but enjoyed seeing Quinn's frustration. It was like her own private reality show, and she couldn't get enough of it. Quinn rolls her eyes. They'd already had their morning meeting so now it was just a waiting game. She just wanted it to be lunch, so she could get some quality bonding time with her daughter before the weekend started. It didn't seem right that she really only got two full days out of the week to spend time together. That was going to have to be brought up at her next one on one with her boss.

"No, I don't have anywhere to be, I just… Beth is coming here today, and I'm a little impatient." She shrugs.

"Beth is coming here… how? She can't be old enough to drive yet… didn't you just have her?" Santana says smugly.

"She's five Santana… so no, I didn't just have her. Rachel is bringing her into the city to visit the park. Then they're coming here to have lunch with me."

"Wait, whose Rachel again- wait, are you dating a chick?"

"Rachel… you know my nanny. I've told you about her. Shit, she's been working for me for like five months now."

"Rrright… sounds vaguely familiar." Santana thinks about it for a moment. "Wait, she's the young brunette, right?" Quinn nods. "Huh… I thought that was just some weird fantasy you were telling me about… now it makes a lot more sense. Is she hot?" She asks with all seriousness. "Because I have this image in my head about her wearing this weird ass French maid outfit… do you make her wear a French maid outfit?"

"Santana… she's a nanny, not a maid, and she is also off limits to you. What is with you trying to get into the pants of everyone that works underneath me?"

"Underneath? Huh.., I didn't take you for a top…" Santana says with a smug smile.

"Okay, that's it, leave please…" Quinn points to the door. Santana laughs as she leaves the room.

"I'll see you at lunch," Santana adds as she slams the office door with a little too much force.

Quinn tries her best to focus on her work. She wanted to get most of her work done before lunch so she could leave early. It was Friday after all.

She got a text from Rachel around ten saying they'd just got to the park. She could only imagine Beth running around like a wild child, chasing the birds and squirrels.

As noon rolled around Quinn started pacing in her office. In some ways her office seemed more like a cage.

She got a text from Rachel at twelve fifteen saying they were just leaving the park. 'Finally,' she thinks, but her thoughts were interrupted when the door to her office opened. She was half expecting Beth and Rachel, but it was just Santana.

"Are you even trying to work?" Quinn ignores her, but Santana does seem concerned "Are you okay, because I was watching you for like the last fifteen minutes pace around your office like you're a caged lion."

"I'm fine, I just got the Friday afternoon jitters."

"Yeah, you and me both. So what do you and the squirt have planned for this weekend?" Santana sits down on the couch again.

"Same thing we do every weekend, watch movies and eat pizza, then lounge around on Saturday, followed by the weekly Sunday night dinner at my moms. What about you?"

"Same thing, minus the movie night, and dinner with my parents."

"So you're just going to lounge around all weekend."

"No, I'm going to get drunk tonight and hopefully get laid, then I'll lounge around on Saturday while trying to nurse any possible hangovers, maybe get laid again, and then cook some sort of meal for Sunday if I'm hungry. You want to join?" Santana asks wiggling her eyebrows at Quinn. Quinn just smirked. Santana's life style just wasn't that appealing to her; she would take Beth any day. At least she didn't wake up with random people and splitting headaches.

"I think I'll just stick to my usual weekend routine."

"There you go mama."

"Don't say that like I'm old." Quinn pouts.

"You are old, you're like twe-" Santana can't finish. The two are interrupted by Quinn's phone.

Quinn hits the speaker button to answer it.

"Miss Fabray, Beth, and a Rachel Berry are here to see you." Quinn smiles, finally they were here.

"Yeah, send them up." She hit the end button. "They're here." Quinn says with some excitement, she couldn't even remember the last time she'd eaten lunch with her daughter during the weekday. "Are you really planning on joining us Santana?" She looks at her friend who is still sitting on the couch.

"No… I'll give you your bonding time. I just want to see this mystery nanny of yours."

Quinn gets excited when she sees her assistant escorting Rachel and Beth towards her office. Beth was holding onto Rachel's hand while eagerly taking in her surroundings. That was until Beth saw her mom in the office ahead of her and started to pull Rachel. She practically ran into the glass door, but as soon as she opened, she ran into her mom's awaiting arms.

"Hey there baby." She picks Beth up holding her in the hug.

"Mama… look." She pulls back to show Quinn the space in her teeth. Smiling brightly as she does.

"Wow… look at that, you lost a tooth." She tickles the blonde girl causing her to squirm in her arms. That must have been the surprise Rachel had texted her about.

"No… no tickling…" the girl laughs out. Quinn puts her back on her feet.

"So how was the park?" She looks at Rachel then back to Beth, who looked like she'd had a blast. "Tell me everything you did."

"Fun, Rachel and I fed the ducks… and then we swung on the swings… and… and we went on the monkey bars. Well, I did the monkey bars, but Rachel was there to help me just in case, but I made it all the way across." Beth explains in a hurry, but she was saying so much it was hard to follow everything that was being said.

"We had a lot of fun, didn't we." Rachel finishes. Beth was just trying to catch her breath after talking so fast.

"Yup, I can't wait to go back, maybe next time you can come with us? Then we could play tag, cuz you can't play tag with two people..." Beth looks so hopeful.

"Yeah, sounds like fun." Santana then clears her throat. "Oh, right, sorry. Um, you remember Santana… right Beth?" Beth turns to Santana taking in her appearance. She nods slowly.

"Yeah, you're always at my birthday parties. Last year you brought that weird lady that smelled like soup." Santana blushes slightly.

"Okay… I think I liked her more when she didn't talk." She says standing up from the couch.

"And Santana this is Rachel Berry, our nanny. Rachel this is Santana Lopez, my… um co-worker… she's also a family friend." Santana raises her eyebrow at Quinn before turning to shake the nanny's hand. She gives Rachel a quick once over too.

"It's nice to meet you." Rachel says.

"Damn Quinn, you said you got a nanny, but… how old are you?"

"Rachel is 22…"

"So why… how… what made you want to become a nanny?" Santana couldn't believe the girl in front of her was a nanny. Rachel didn't seem fazed.

"Um… well, I like working with kids so it sort of just happened."

"Yeah, but shouldn't you be in college?"

"I was, but I dropped out my sophomore year…"

"But, why?" Santana can't believe what she's hearing, college was the best years of her life. Even though most of what she remembered was hazy.

"Um, Santana don't you have somewhere else to be?" Quinn could tell Rachel was becoming uncomfortable.

"Um… no."

"Can you go anyway…?"

"Right… sure… wait one last question… would there be a way to get your services for one night?"

"Oh… you mean like to babysit?" Rachel asks in some confusion.

"Sure, is that what the twenty two year olds are calling it these days?" Santana says with a smug smile.

"Santana you don't have kids…" Quinn says.

Rachel realizes what she meant and blushes.

"Oh… um" Quinn starts to push Santana towards the door.

"Just ignore Santana… please go before I have to get a restraining order for you"

"Wait one last question..." She fights against Quinn.

"No more questions." She practically has to push the Latina out the door. "Jesus…" she turns back around to see Beth sitting in her chair going through her paperwork and Rachel standing in the same place she'd been since she'd entered her office. "I'm so sorry about that Rachel… she just really… um friendly. I hope she didn't offend you in any way."

"No its fine… so… are we ready to eat… Beth here helped make our lunch today, so I'm sure it's going to be amazing. Right Beth.

"Yup… I put on the chicken, cheese, and bacon bits on them." She says while spinning in Quinn's office chair.

"We're having chicken bacon wraps?" She says with a hopeful smile.

"Yup… well you two are, and I'm having an avocado and tomato wrap."

They sit down on Quinn's couch and enjoy their meal. She couldn't help but smile every time Beth smiled since there as a big space. She looked so adorable. Rachel explained that she took some pictures of her at home of Beth eating cereal.

By the time they were finished it was two o'clock, well past lunchtime.

Quinn really didn't want them to go, but knew that if she wanted to get done somewhat on time she would have to get back to work.

"I had a lot of fun eating lunch with you today Bethy." She hugs the girl. She notices Santana is hanging off to the side trying to get Rachel's attention as she said goodbye to her daughter.

"I had a lot of fun too." Beth says, while smile and showing off her missing tooth yet again.

"Yeah? Maybe we can figure out way to have lunch more often together does that sound good?" Beth nods in excitement "So are we still on for movies and pizza for tonight?" She asks just to make sure the young girl hadn't forgotten.

"Yeah!"

"Okay, good… I'll get the pizza and you pick the movie."

She hugs Beth one more time before looking at Rachel, l who was now talking to Santana a few feet away. Santana seemed to be flirting from what she could tell, she noticed the girls blushed face as Santana handed her a card. No doubt it had her cell number on it.

She walks Beth over to them, clearing her throat to get their attention. Rachel immediately jumps a little when she notices Quinn.

"Make sure you drive back safely."

"Of course Miss Fabray" Rachel says in a hurry, her face was still flushed. Quinn doesn't correct her this time, but she does notice the slight eyebrow lift from Santana.

"And make sure you text me when you get back so I know you made it."

"Of course."

"And I'll see you tonight," she taps Beth on the nose. She waves as the two of them leave, and then turns to Santana, who was also watching them leave. Well, she was watching Rachel's ass leave. Quinn slaps her arm.

"Ow, what was that for?" She asks as she rubs her arm.

"I don't know, maybe for trying to hook up with my nanny…" Quinn says letting her anger take over.

"Come on Quinn, have you seen her, do you have eyes? The girl is hot. You can't expect me not to hit on her, it goes against my nature."

"Whatever… just…" she can't even finish, instead she walks back towards her office.

"Oh please don't act so innocent. What was with that Miss Fabray crap?"

"It's my name." Quinn adds dryly.

"Yeah, but you liked it, the way she said your name. Don't act like you didn't… because I saw that weird ass gleam thing. You like her don't you." It was a statement not a question, but Quinn chooses to ignore it.

"No, I don't, I just don't want to have to get another nanny because you can't seem to leave my employees alone." She walks back into her office. This was certainly not a conversation she wanted to be having in the middle of an office building. Santana follows her in.

"You can't possibly think you can lie to me, I know that look. It's the same look you use to give girls when we were dating in college. You know 'the back the hell off my girlfriend before I cut you' look."

It was true Santana and her dated in college; it only lasted a month before they realized they made better friends than girlfriends. Then Quinn met Puck, Beth's father.

They dated off and on for two years until she graduated from college, and gotten pregnant shortly after. That's when Puck split, leaving her alone to raise their child. She never actually got mad when Puck left, sure it was hard, but if she was honest with herself she never genuinely loved him. And she ended up getting an amazing daughter from it. Sure Beth wasn't planned, but she never regretted having her. After that, she just gave up on dating. It was hard enough being a single mom and raising a child, she didn't think dating would be a good idea.

"Look Santana… we're not going to talk about this… just please leave it alone." She says.

The rest of the day goes by relatively fast. She actually gets most of her stuff done before seven p.m. She even had time to call and order pizza for movie night. She ordered one large cheese pizza, which was Beth's and her favorite. With extra cheese and one vegan friendly veggie pizza for Rachel. She didn't know why she did that. Usually on Fridays, Rachel left right after she got home. But for some reason she bought two pizzas instead of just one. In the end she decided to blame Santana, because it seemed easier to blame her. She quickly escapes the confines of the building with her pizzas in hand.

She relaxes instantly as she pulls into her driveway. The drive had been a blur again, but at least she didn't have to think about work for another two days. She all but falls out of her car when she opens her door and tries to exit too quickly. Grabbing the pizza before making her way towards the front door.

This time when she opened the door, she was practically tackled by Beth, who'd heard her car come down the driveway. The girl slid into her on the wooden floor before wrapping her arms around Quinn's leg.

"PIZZA!"

"Well, good to see you too."

Rachel walks into the entryway.

"Two pizzas, someone must be hungry. Did we not make you enough food for lunch?"

"Well, actually one of them is for you. I thought that maybe if you didn't have plans you would like to stick around for some pizza and a movie. I know usually you have plans, and I probably should have asked before buying the pizza, but… Anyways, if you are busy, then Beth is going to be eating a lot of pizza for the next two days." She says with some sarcasm.

"Even for breakfast?" Beth actually looks excited to have pizza for breakfast.

"Yup… breakfast too. So pizza…. It's vegan friendly." She adds as she opens the top box to show Rachel the delicious looking pizza inside.

"Well, since you went through the trouble in getting vegan friendly pizza how can I say no, plus I don't actually have any plans for tonight."

"Yea Rachel's going to stay." That was a first.

"Why don't I help you with that?" Rachel grabs the pizza and walks towards the kitchen, followed by Beth, who was talking about how much she was going to eat. Quinn quickly disappears upstairs to get out of her work clothes. By the time she comes back down, both Rachel and Beth are sitting on the couch with their pizza on a plate and Netflix loading on the TV screen.

"You'd better have saved some of that pizza for me…" She teases Beth when she noticed two very big slices on her plate. She knew the young girl would only be able to eat one, but she couldn't help but tease. She quickly goes into the kitchen and dishes up a plate for herself. She grabs two Bud Lights from the fridge before going back into the living room.

She hands a bottle to Rachel, who eyes it suspiciously, Rachel wasn't a big drinker.

"Trust me, pizza and beer go together, plus it's Friday."

"Well, I guess one won't hurt. Can you help—" she hands the bottle back because she couldn't twist off the top. Quinn sets down her plate, then help Rachel with her bottle. Beth had a cup of milk she was nursing; she even had a wicked milk mustache going on.

"So what did we decide on for a movie?"

"Gnomeo and Juliet!" Beth gleams as she pushes play on the remote.

"Gnomeo? You mean Romeo."

"Unfortunately, no. Even if I think it's a great play, this is a remake in a slightly less conventional format."

"Huh?"

"They're gnomes… instead of people," Rachel clarifies.

"Oh…"

As far as movies go, this one wasn't too bad. Quinn was used to watching cartoon movies with Beth, and frankly, she enjoyed them. By the time the movie was over Beth had fallen to sleep in-between Quinn and Rachel on the large leather couch.

"That was cute… even though they all lived in the end."

"Yeah, I'm sure Shakespeare is rolling in his grave… well, I should put this girl to bed…"

She quickly scoops up sleeping Beth, and carries her upstairs into her room. She manages to get the girl into pajamas before tucking her in for the night. By the time, she got back downstairs the living room was cleaned up. Rachel had put away the rest of the food and picked up the two empty beer bottles.

"Today was really great… lunch… and everything…."

"Yeah, it was wasn't it… she was so excited to see where you worked today… I glad we were able to do that."

"Me too… maybe we can figure out a way to do that more often…. I could raise your pay or something."

"Quinn… you already pay me too much… not that I'm complaining, but you do not need to give me any more raises." The room goes quiet. Quinn then opens up the fridge and grabs another two bottles of beer. She opens both and hands one to Rachel.

"I really shouldn't… I still need to be able to drive home."

"Just one more… we could even watch a movie with actual people in it… I can't even remember the last time that happened." Rachel laughs.

"Fine… one more movie, then I have to go."

They go back into the living room. It takes a while for them to find a movie that looks appealing and after a lengthy discussion, they settle for a horror movie. It wasn't too scary, in fact, it was kind of predictable, but it was a pleasant break from talking animals.

"I'm sorry about today…" Quinn says as the movie hit an uninteresting part. She takes a sip of her beer before looking over at Rachel, who still had her eyes trained on the TV screen.

"Huh? What do you mean?" She was actually into the movie for the most part.

"Santana she's kind of… um… persistent. And I'm sorry if she came on too strong that's just how she is."

The room goes silent as the movie starts to get intense again. Quinn knew that at any moment something was going to jump out at the actress on the screen that was sneaking around the haunted house. They both jump when the monster in the movie pops out and attacks the helpless victim. It looked extremely fake, but it still scared them.

"She seems friendly…" Rachel says as he movie died down again.

"She's um, something else that's for sure. I've had to replace six assistants in the last year because of her… " That grabs Rachel's attention.

"Six? Wow…"

"She's kind of a player… but she's a good friend."

Rachel nods before turning back to the TV. She finished off the rest of her beer. They didn't talk the rest of the movie… Quinn eventually became way too interested in the movie that she'd almost forgotten Rachel was still there. By the time the credits rolled it was eleven thirty.

"Well that was different." The ending of the movie was crazy, there was no happily ever after for those people. She looks over at Rachel who was now sleeping. "Must not have been that great of a movie." She says to herself. Quinn gets up from the couch and collects the empty beer bottles. She contemplates waking up the sleeping girl. In the end she does since she didn't know if Rachel needed to be home or what. She lightly shakes the girl's shoulder as she tried to wake her. "Hey Rachel…" Nothing. " Come on…" she tries again, this time Rachel stirs slightly.

"Huh, no I'm sleepy…" Rachel mumbles, she sounded like Beth when she didn't want to wake up.

"Are you sure you can stay over… do you need to send a text to your dads?"

"No… its fine, they don't care…" She says still half asleep.

"Okay…" and with that, Quinn starts to clean up the living room once more. She almost wanted to ask if Rachel wanted to sleep in one of the guest rooms, but she couldn't find it in herself to wake the sleeping girl back up. Instead, she turns off the TV, grabs a throw blanket, and drapes it over the sleeping girl.

She looked so peaceful, Quinn can't help but move some of Rachel's hair from the girls sleeping face. She drags her fingers as lightly as possible across the girl's forehead… but pulls away as soon as Rachel stirs, the last thing she wanted to do was to try and explain why she was watching the girl sleep. Instead, she whispers a Goodnight to the sleeping nanny before going back upstairs to sleep in her own bed.

What she didn't hear was Rachel wishing her a good night as well.

End for now

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><p>I hope you liked it, and hopefully I get just as many reviews as last time, I'm trying to update as quickly as possible, but college is a bitch right now. I'm also trying to update my other stories as well so if there's a long break between updates blame it on the three vastly different stories I have open right now. Anyway, tell me what you think, and for those who are wondering how old Quinn is, she's twenty nine-ish… and Rachel is going to be 22 so that's about seven years age difference. So there's kind of an age gap, but it makes it more interesting to write.<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer… I don't own glee or its characters.

Description: Quinn is a single mom raising her daughter Beth with the help of her nanny Rachel. Somehow things change between the two and they start having feelings for each other.

Author's notes: All mistakes are my own… and I'm trying so hard to catch them. I think I've read over this story at least 10 times so if there are mistakes I apologize.

Sorry for the wait… its exam time and I've been busy trying not to fail out of college…

Thanks for all the great reviews… they were phenomenal. I hope this chapter will alleviate some your addictive needs for 'more'… and hopefully you can hold out until I can update again.

**Late Morning Lullaby**

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><p>It was quiet, yet noticeable, the sound of Quinn's bedroom door squeaking open. The subtle sound seemed amplified in her mind. Someone had opened her bedroom door. She wanted to open her eyes, but for some reason, she waited. For what? She couldn't say. The room seemed to become still again. Her ears strained, and her breathing became shallow as she tries to pick up any other noises. But it was silent. Then she could feel it, the unmistakable feeling of being watched while she slept. A feeling that would make anyone wake up, but instead she tossed in her bed. Her internal clock was flashing in her mind. 'It couldn't be time to get up yet.' She thought. All she wanted was to sleep in until at least eight for once, but whoever was watching her, had other plans. Finally, she heard a small sound of feet moving closer to her overly sized bed. She waited. The bed dipped as the unknown person slowly crawled on. She noticed the movement as they crawled up the length of the bed. Then she felt the weight, as the person crawled over top of her. That's when Quinn's eyes slowly open. She tries to focus on the weight that was now on her knees and making their way higher. The image above her seems to blur instead of focus, because she swears the person on her looks like…<p>

"Rachel?"

A fit of giggles explodes from the unknown person… a giggle that wasn't Rachel's. Quinn sits up quickly and rubs her eyes. The person laughing was now laying fully on her stomach.

"No mama… it's me!"

Her eyes finally focus enough to see the gleaming face of her daughter.

"Beth? What are you doing up so early? It's only…" she looks over at her clock. "Seven thirty."

Quinn lays back against the headboard of her bed as she watches her daughter roll around on her comforter.

"But I'm not sleepy anymore..." Again the girl seems to roll around on top of the blanket. Quinn can't help but smile. This was a nice way to wake up. "Why did you call me Rachel mama?"

"Huh… I did? Um, oh you just scared me and I thought…" she trails off, not honestly sure why she thought it was Rachel in the first place. Maybe it was because the nanny was still sleeping down stairs on their overly large leather couch.

"Come here you," Quinn quickly grabs the wild child. Scooping her up in her arms before falling backwards on the mattress. Beth kicks and screams, and maybe even bites Quinn to try and get away.

Laughter from both of them seems to be radiating throughout the room. That was until Beth's elbow collides with Quinn's jaw, as a result of trying to tickle the girl.

"Ow…" she lets go of the wild child and holds her jaw.

Beth seems worried as she watches her mom hold her jaw.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah Bethy, I'm fine… I think you might have knocked out a tooth."

"Really… does that mean the tooth fairy will come for you too?"

"Huh, I don't know, I'm guessing she won't, because she only takes your baby teeth. Speaking of the tooth fairy, did you check to see if she came already?" Beth shakes her head no. "Well… maybe we should."

The small blonde gets excited and rolls off the bed. She lands on the hardwood floors with a thud. Quinn peers over the side to make sure she's okay.

Beth pops back up, and grabs Quinn's hand and pulls her out of bed.

"Come on… we need to goooo and seeee." She exclaims as she pulls Quinn towards the bedroom door.

"Just hold on…" Quinn's feet hit the cold wood floor. "I need to put on pants first."

Beth stops long enough for Quinn to pull on a pair of booty shorts. After Quinn got somewhat decent, she lets Beth lead her downstairs.

Beth stomps down the stairs.

"Shh… Bethy, Rachel might still be asleep." Beth was about to question her mother as to why Rachel would still be here, but when they walk into the living room Beth sees someone still on the couch.

"Why! ..."

"Shh…" Quinn escorts Beth into the kitchen and away from Rachel.

'At least one of us will get to sleep in.'

Last night Beth had put her tooth in a glass of water, that's what Rachel had told her to do. So she was eager to see what the tooth fairy left her. Her face lights up when she sees the glass on the counter. She lets go of her mom's hand and rushes to the breakfast bar. Something was definitely different.

"Look mama!" Her voice is loud again.

The glass of water was now pink, and the countertops were now shining with glitter. However, the most noticeable thing was the two shiny gold coins sitting at the bottom of the cup.

"She took it!" Beth was obviously talking about her tooth.

"Looks like… she also made a mess with her fairy dust." Quinn runs a finger through the glitter.

"And she turned the water pink… how?" Beth holds up the glass to inspect it closely.

"Must be magic."

"WOW!" Again Beth's voice rings out a little too loud.

"Shh Bethy, keep your voice down… Rachel still sleeping."

"Look what she left me." She holds up the glass to show her mom.

"I see… she must've liked your tooth. Here, let me help you with that." Beth hands her the glass, and Quinn carefully pours out the colored water into the sink. She then hands the curious girl the two gold coins.

"Now what do I do with them?"

"Well, they're yours, so you can do anything you want with them silly. Now what are you hungry for? I feel like this is a moment we should celebrate." The young girl is distracted by the shiny coins. "Beth… hello?" Quinn waves a spatula in front of her face.

"Huh…"

"What do you want for breakfast sweetie… and no you're not having Spooky-o's again."

The young girl has to think about it for a second.

"Um… can we have banana pancakes?"

"Huh, let me see. We have bananas… sooo. Yes we can have delicious banana pancakes." Quinn pulls out a large mixing bowl.

"But what about Rachel won't she be hungry?"

"Well, I'll make them so she can eat them too. Now why don't you sneak upstairs and get ready for the day while I make the pancakes." Beth is about to run back up to her room, but Quinn warns her before she can take off. "And try not to wake up Rachel, it's her day off, and I think we should let her sleep in. Don't you think?"

Beth nods before scurrying back up to her room to get dressed.

Quinn starts to prepare her pancakes. Banana pancakes were her favorite, just above blueberry, and for the most part, they were relatively easy to make. She seamlessly starts to mix the ingredients together. She doesn't even realize she's singing as she cooks.

Rachel woke to the soft voice emanating from the kitchen. At first she'd thought she was still dreaming, as the song almost seemed to take on a dreamlike melody.

She sits up slowly, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, and taking in her surroundings. That's when she realized, she was still at Quinn's house.

She stretched, and then heard that calm, low voice call to her again. Someone was singing. She gets up from the leather couch, and walks towards the kitchen to investigate. She stops in the archway and sees where the light voice is emanating from.

Quinn's back was turned to her as she cooked over the stove. Rachel's eyes were glued of the slow sway of Quinn's hips as she danced to the song.

Quinn flips a pancake.

"Wakin' up too early maybe we could sleep in... I'll make you banana pancakes." Her voice seems to emphasize the pancake part. "Pretend like it's the weekend now..." Again Quinn flips a pancake.

Rachel couldn't get over Quinn's voice, it seemed to encircle the walls. It was like this room was perfectly balanced to carry her voice.

She also thought it was funny how the girl seemed to flip the pancake's after each verse.

"… But just maybe, Hala ka ukulele, mama made a baby, I really don't mind to practice…" she skips a verse. "Lady, lady love me 'cause I love to lay here lazy. We could close the curtains pretend like there's no world outside and we could pretend that all the time…"

Rachel is so caught in the moment she doesn't even hear Beth sneaking up behind her.

"Good Morning Rachel!" Beth's voice erupts from behind her. Scaring not only Rachel, but Quinn as well.

Quinn turns around, startled to find Rachel standing in the doorway.

"Oh Rachel you're up… I didn't hear you." She hoped Rachel hadn't heard her singing.

"Yeah, the um- um smell of the pancakes woke me." She lied, it was Quinn's voice that woke her. "They smell delicious."

"Yeah? Well they're done so Beth and you can have the first round."

The two hungry girls sit down at the breakfast bar. Quinn places two plates with pancakes in front of them, along with a cup of coffee for Rachel, and a cup of orange juice for Beth. She then goes back to making her own fresh pancakes.

"So Banana Pancakes, huh? I never took you for the type."

"They're my favorite… I try to make them at least once a week." She says as she flips the two massive pancakes in the skillet.

"I meant the song… Banana Pancakes… didn't take you for a Jack Johnson fan."

"Oh… well truthfully that song just gets in my head every time I make Pancakes. It's the only song I know about Pancakes." She trails off.

"Well the song suits your voice perfectly."

"Oh please, I'm not that good." Quinn can tell she's blushing. She wasn't extremely comfortable singing in front of an audience.

"Quinn, trust me. Your voice was amazing." Quinn was surprised by the comment, usually she thought she sounded a little shard when she sang. "Don't you think Beth, your mom has a beautiful voice doesn't she."

"Yup, you sing pretty, but mama you need to hear Rachel sing sometime."

"I've heard about this famous Rachel Berry voice, but I have yet to hear you actually sing." She was just happy Beth changed the subject.

"Well, that's because this is probably the longest conversation we've had since I've started working for you. Usually by this time on the weekday you're already out the door. So there hasn't been a sufficient amount of time for you to hear my voice." Rachel says in between bites.

"True… you know you're right. I think this is the first time you've actually stayed overnight."

"Yup." Rachel takes another bite of her delicious pancakes.

"So how did you sleep?"

"Okay I guess… although I'd much prefer a bed to a couch." She rubs her neck slightly.

"Yeah, I thought about that last night, and I was going to ask if you wanted to stay in the guest room, but you looked so peaceful."

"I think it was the beer… it knocked me out."

"Rachel… you could've slept in my bed." Beth says with a full mouth.

"Beth please, try not to talk with your mouth full."

"Th-orry." She says while still chewing. Quinn just shrugs it off.

Her pancakes where now done so she sat down in the last bar stool and enjoyed her delicious pancakes.

"You're a pretty good cook Quinn."

"Why thank you, you sound surprised." She eyes Rachel's plate, her pancakes were already half gone.

"I am. Actually, I think this is the first time you've made me something other than toast and coffee. Usually I'm the one cooking meals around here."

"Well, now you know my talents also extend to pancakes." She says back playfully.

"What else can you mama make Bethy?"

"Um… tacos!"

"Tacos?"

"I also have a mean PB&J sandwich in my repertoire." Quinn gleams.

By the time the pancakes were gone the three girls were practically comatose from eating too much.

"I definitely ate too much." Quinn groans.

"Same." Rachel was currently in the same predicament Beth on the other hand seemed keen, in fact she seemed way too hyper.

"Who knew food gave her energy. How long do you think she can spin like that before upchucking all over my kitchen." Rachel says.

"Your kitchen…" Quinn scoffs. "Trust me, I timed her once, and she did that for like ten minutes straight. However, in order to get her to sleep by seven that amount of spinning is a must."

"She making me sick by watching her. Remind me not to give her banana pancakes during the week."

'Noted.'

Quinn was right, about ten minutes later, Beth was tired out on the floor from spinning. Shortly after that Rachel excused herself from the Fabray home. Her dad had been calling her all morning trying to find out why she hadn't come home yet.

Beth then decided she didn't want Rachel to leave and attached herself to the girls leg.

"Beth let her go."

"No… she needs to stay so we can play hide and go seek, and you can't play that with two people."

"I sorry Beth, but I really need to get back to my house."

"But you can stay here, so this can be your house."

"Beth I'm not going to ask you again… let go of Rachel's leg."

She reluctantly lets go and starts to pout. Rachel then kneels down in front of her and gives her a hug to calm her before she starts to cry.

"Hey, we can have all sorts of fun on Monday, okay?" Beth nods then runs upstairs. "Is she going to be okay, usually she isn't like this when I leave."

"I think she'll be fine, it's probably because you stayed overnight for the first time." At least that's what Quinn hopes.

"Yeah maybe… thanks again for letting me crash here last night."

"It's no problem, it was one of the best Fridays I've had in a while."

"I guess I should probably…"

"Wait, um… I know tomorrow's Sunday or whatever, and it's your day off, but I was wondering if you might want to join us for dinner at my mom's house. We have a family dinner every Sunday, and my mom keeps telling me to invite you."

"That sounds great actually, is it okay if I invite my dad's too… I'm sure they'd love to meet Beth."

"Yeah, that's fine. So Sunday at 7, at my mom's house."

With that Rachel leaves in her black Volkswagen. Quinn waves as the girl backs out of the driveway.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful for Quinn, she ended up calling her mom after Rachel had left to inform her about tomorrows dinner. Then she went outside to soak up some sun this her daughter.

After an afternoon of playing soccer in the back yard. The two of them found themselves relaxing on the nice leather couch. Beth was busy eating leftover pizza when Quinn's phone went off.

"Baby can you grab that for me?" Beth reaches over to the coffee table and hands Quinn her phone. It was a text from Santana.

"Great, now what." She clicks on the message.

**-Sorry I lied.**

Pops up on her screen as a picture of her assistant pops up on her screen. It was obvious that Ashley the 22 year old, was lying naked in Santana's bed. She wanted to be pissed at the fact that she would probably have to start looking for a new assistant soon, but at the end of the day she saw it coming. Santana always went after the things she was told she couldn't have. And sweet straight Ashley didn't stand a chance when it came to Santana's charm. It was that charm that had gotten her into the Latina's bed.

-Thanks, should I start looking for a new assistant?

**- Come on Fabray is that all you have to say to me… how about congratulations.**

-Okay, congrats on sleeping with yet another of my employees, hopefully they'll still be competent enough to work for me on Monday.

**-She won't be after I'm done with her ;)**

-Whatever…

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><p>Sunday- Family Dinner<p>

"Mom! Do you know where the wine opener is? I can't find it!" Quinn yells to her mom in the other room. The two of them were busy setting the table for dinner.

"I think I put it above the fridge!" Her mom yells back.

"I can't find it!"

"Just a second I'll be right there!" Her mom comes storming into the kitchen. "Did you find it darling?"

"No… where else would you put it?"

"Quinn it's not like I drink wine every night… it should be there… just keep looking." Quinn continues to dig through the cabinet, as her mom finishes pulling out the eggplant lasagna. The aroma of the lasagna almost made Quinn fall from the stool she was currently balancing on. "Oh, Quinn I found it… it was next to the microwave here."

"Really mom, the microwave?"

"Yes, dear now hurry up and open that bottle, it needs to sit open before we can drink it."

"You know, next time we should just drink the boxed wine you have in the fridge…"

"Oh hush now, and stay away from my box wine." Quinn can't help but giggle. "What time did you say the Berry's were coming?"

"I told them, we were eating at seven, so I'm guessing they'll be here any minute." And as soon as Quinn says it the doorbell rings. "See, right on time."

"Oh goodness… I'll get it. You hurry up with the wine."

"Yeah yeah…" her mom swats her with a dish towel, then scurries to the front door to greet the guest. Quinn can hear her mom as she answers the door, since her voice seems to carry back into the kitchen. She could just barely make out Rachel's voice

She finally gets the cork out of the bottle and walks it into the formal dining room.

"Quinn honey, come here please." Quinn sets the opened bottle on the table before making her way to the front door. Her mom had just shut it after inviting both Rachel and her dad in.

'Wait, I thought she had two?'

"Quinn honey, I'd like you to meet Hiram Berry. Hiram this is my daughter Quinn. I'm not sure if you ever met her before."

"Nope, I think I've only ever seen the baby pictures of her. Russell always had them on his work desk. It's good to finally meet you Quinn." He extends his hand to her.

"Likewise."

"Oh Judy she looks just like you."

"Here Quinn why don't you take their coats upstairs, and bring Bethy down with you. We'll wait in the living room okay?"

Judy escorts Hiram into the living room, leaving Rachel standing in the entry way.

Rachel was dressed in a classic white dress that was cut off just above her knees. Her hair was pulled back slightly and she was currently wearing a necklace with her name on it.

"Do you want me to take that?" Quinn motions to the bottle Rachel was currently holding. Rachel for some reason seemed frozen. "Rachel?"

"Huh? Oh no, it's fine. Um… I'll just set it in the dining room."

"Okay… here give me your coat and I'll run it upstairs for you." Rachel hands her the coat.

"You look very nice tonight. However, you didn't need to get all dressed up for us."

"I just… I didn't know how formal the dinner was going to be." Rachel says as she looks down at her dress.

"We try and keep it semi casual, hence what I'm wearing… I thought you were bringing both of your dad's tonight?"

"Oh right, I um… Daddy is running a little late , but he should be here soon, I hope that's okay. He said we could start dinner without him too, if we don't want to wait for him."

"I'm sure we can wait, the wine still needs to sit for a while, so we have some time." She gives Rachel a quick smile before disappearing up stairs to stash the coats and find Beth. Who was currently hiding under the bed for some reason.

"Beth honey, what are you doing under the bed?"

"I wanted to scare Rachel. Is she here yet?

"Yes honey she's here , but she's down stairs with grandma right now. Why don't you come out from under there. We're about to eat, and if you want to sit by Rachel, you'll have to be the first one at the table."

It was a sneaky trick, but it worked.

Two seconds later, Beth was out the door and running down the stair to get to Rachel first. Before Quinn reached the bottom of the stairs, she hears a sudden oomph from the living room. She didn't have to see what had happened, and when she walked into the living room her suspicions were confirmed. Beth had all but tackled Rachel in a chair and was now talking adamantly about why she was going to sit next to the nanny.

"So what you're saying is that I have to sit next to you."

"Yup." Quinn just shakes her head at her daughter.

"So this is the infamous Beth Fabray my daughter has talked nonstop about for the last five months." Hiram says as he gets up to meet Beth.

"Yup… This is Beth. Beth this is my Dad Hiram Berry."

"Hi… you're really tall…"

"Well, I suppose I am, or maybe it's you," he taps her nose "that is very small." Beth laughs.

"Well, why don't we move this into the dining room. You said Leroy was going to be here soon right?" Judy asks as she starts to usher her guest into the next room. Beth had a hold of Rachel's hand and was leading her to the table.

They all settled into a seat as Judy brought out the food and started serving.

"This looks amazing Judy. Did you make this from scratch?" Rachel says as she scoops herself a plate.

"Yup, I got it from one of those cooking shows on the food network. Hopefully it tastes as good as it looks. Quinn why don't you pour the wine."

Quinn makes her way around the table pouring the wine. Skipping Beth of course, who instead was poured a giant glass of chocolate milk, and just as they all settled down at the table the doorbell rang.

"That's Daddy, I'll get it." Rachel excuses herself from the table and goes to answer the door. They can hear the greeting LeRoy gives as he enters the house. Rachel then leads him into the dining room.

"I see I made it just in time."

"We were just about to start." Judy says from the head of the table.

"Daddy you remember Judy Fabray, and this is Quinn her daughter and this little one is Beth."

Beth waves at the man.

"Wow, she does look like a little handful doesn't she." Leroy says as he sits down next to Hiram.

Beth smiles wickedly.

"Daddy, Beth isn't a handful at all."

"Oh please, I know what it's like raising a five year old girl. You were always go go go. That's why we enrolled you in singing and dance. It helped vent all that energy. Is Beth enrolled into any programs like that?"

"Um… no. We haven't really looked into anything like that."

"That's a pity, they say the best time to start learning things like singing and dancing is at a young age." LeRoy says as he plates his food.

"Daddy…" Rachel scolds.

"What? It was only a suggestion. Think of where you'd be if we didn't push you into those programs."

"Yes, well not everyone wants to be a Broadway star by age three. Beth here wants to be… um, what was it again?" She looks to Beth, who was busy pushing around the food on her plate.

"Deep sea Fisher MAN!" She exclaims before putting an enormous bite of eggplant in her mouth.

"Well, maybe they have, I don't know… workshops for that."

"Daddy she wants to do that because we saw a commercial for Deathliest Catch and asked me what it was about. She wants to be a fisherman because she wants a pet lobster."

"Mama won't let me have one."

"Yeah… no shellfish pets for you." She can't help but laugh at her daughter.

The conversation from there was left to complimenting the food, or asking for more wine. Beth was the first to finish eating, but she sat patiently for dessert.

"Beth sweetie, do you want to help me serve dessert?" Judy asks after everyone finished eating. Beth quickly nods and slides off her chair.

Judy and her go into the kitchen.

"So how old did you say Beth is?"

"She's five, she should be starting school in the fall."

"They grow up so quickly don't they." Hiram says as he finishes the last sip of wine. "I remember Rachel's first day of school. She had this little yellow backpack, and these little notebooks and pencils all ready to learn. She practically pulled Leroy and I into the school, then as soon as we tried to leave she started to cry."

"I did not." Rachel pouts.

"I'm sorry sweetie, but you did… just tears everywhere, then we picked her up that night, and she wouldn't stop talking about everything she did… the ABC's… 123's… everything."

"Well, I was a little excited, but I didn't cry. I remember exactly what happened that day."

"You did too baby…" Rachel scowls at him. "Then they leave and go to college, and you become this middle aged man grasping onto the younger days." Quinn raises her eyebrow. "Well, maybe not the middle aged man part, but just you wait about the college thing."

"Speaking of college, if Beth is starting school in the fall does that mean we can finally re-enroll you into college Rachel?"

"Daddy… not this, please."

"What is just a simple question… I mean Quinn, will you still need Rachel around when Beth's in school?"

"Dad, I told you, I didn't want you to bring this up tonight."

"What it's a fair question, and I think I have the right to know, I mean at some point she's not going to need you anymore, and I think Quinn would agree with me that a college education is necessary. I just want to know when you'll be able to enroll again that's all."

"Daddy…"

"Rachel…" the tension in the room seem to rise.

"Can I talk to you for a moment in the hallway." She huffs and stands from the table. "Please excuse us."

Leroy and Rachel leave the room just as Beth and Judy come back with plates of Brownies.

"Are we ready for… where did Rachel and LeRoy go?"

"They'll be back, let's just start without them." Hiram says as he grabs a Brownie.

"Did something happen while we were in the kitchen…"

Quinn didn't know what to think, in all honesty, she hadn't thought about letting Rachel go.

When Rachel and Leroy come back in the room, all eyes are on them.

"Everything alright?" Judy asks, not really knowing what was going on.

"Yes… um. Are we ready to go?" Leroy asks as when he entered the room.

"Oh but, you haven't had dessert yet." Judy extends the plate of Brownies.

"I'm a little full right now, Hiram do you want to ride with me or Rachel?"

"I'll ride with you, just give me a second to chew." Leroy was already holding both of their jackets. He was waiting patiently by the front door. "The Food was lovely Judy, thanks for having us over."

"Oh, it was no problem we like having company over."

"We'll have to do this again sometime." He hugs the older lady before walking to the door. " It was lovely to have met you both…" he says to Quinn and Beth, as he waves to the girls before walking towards the front door.

"Rachel, don't stay too long." LeRoy says as he waves goodbye to Judy.

"Well that was lovely Beth why don't you help me put away the Brownies."

"Okay…" she follows Judy into the dining room once more.

"So, um… I hope you don't think… I hope my father didn't… ugh." Rachel honestly didn't want to talk about, but it was out in the air now.

"You can ask me Rachel. This seems to be something your father is concerned about."

"He just doesn't know how to stop, he never seems to realize that I'm not ready to go back to school, and that I truly enjoy looking after Beth."

The room goes silent.

"Rachel, I know we haven't really talked about time lengths, but if you want to go back to college, or I don't know, do something else with your life you can tell me. I mean I know you're young, and I understand if you want to find something else to…"

"I don't though…" she interrupts. "That's just it, I like watching Beth, I like being her nanny and working with you, and I'd like to keep doing that for as long as you'll have me."

"Okay… if that's what you want." Rachel nods. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow at 6:30."

With that Rachel quickly says goodbye to Beth and Judy then leaves with a plate full of Brownies. Quinn helps her mom clean up as much as possible before saying Goodnight to her mom.

"So I think tonight went well, don't you?" Judy says as she puts a plate full of leftovers in the back seat of the Audi. She sets it next to Beth who is already strapped in and falling asleep.

"Yeah, I guess… It could have ended better."

"Yeah, what was that all about? I leave you alone for five minutes, and when I come back people are leaving." Judy tries to say it like a joke.

"Is nothing really… Leroy and Rachel got into an argument about her going back to school."

"I see… so what did you tell her?"

"Just that if she wants to leave and go back to school, she just needs to let me know."

"Aw honey I don't think that's going to happen."

"And why is that? Quinn asks.

"Oh… um, no reason, just an assumption… look you two drive home safe and get this one to bed." She gives Quinn a kiss.

"Right… I'll talk to you soon." She gets into her car and drives home.

She was already dreading tomorrow.

By the time she got Beth bathed, and ready for bed it was almost ten o'clock.

"Goodnight little might." She kisses Beth head before tucking her in.

"Good… night." Beth all but yawns out.

Quinn makes her way back downstairs to shut off the lights, and arm the front door. But just as she's about to lock the door, the bell rings.

"Now who in the hell…" she was almost tempted to call the cops, because seriously, who rang a doorbell at ten o'clock in the suburbs. Instead, she peers through the peephole. At first she seems shocked. She has to pull away from the door and look again. However, the image in the peep hole stayed the same. She unlocks the door and swings it open.

"Rachel?"

"Hi… I um…"

"What are you doing here?"

"I was- was hoping that offer of being a stay in nanny was still open." Quinn seems confused. "I know it's late, and this could have waited until tomorrow morning, but I kind of got ahead of myself and stormed out of my house tonight." Rachel says rather quickly.

"Here come inside and let's talk." They make their way into the living room. "Now tell me what's going on."

"I-I want to move in here… with you… and Beth. You said it was okay before, and so I'm taking you up on your offer." Quinn shakes her head slightly trying to process everything.

"I know this is going to seem strange, since I did offer it, but what made you change your mind?" Rachel takes a deep breath.

"I realized on my drive home where I wanted to be, so I packed my stuff and came here. I know I probably should have at least called first. Instead of springing this on you at ten thirty, but I was running on a power high, and things just lead to another, and now I'm here. I can leave if you want me to. Like I said, it probably should have been brought up tomorrow, but after I stormed out I realized I didn't have any other place to go."

"No.. I mean I'm glad you came here, and of course you can stay here. We have the space that's for sure. Um how did… your... um dad's take you leaving?"

"They had…. With mixed emotions I'm sure after tonight you see why."

"Yeah, I guess so," The room goes quiet again.

"So… which room is mine." Rachel asks, changing the mood of the room instantly.

"Huh… oh right, well, I wish you'd given me more of a notice so I could have gotten the downstairs in order for you. Tonight you'll have to stay in the guest bedroom upstairs, until we can get a more permanent setup in place. If that's okay with you?"

"It's perfect." Quinn leads Rachel upstairs… shutting off the lights and arming the front door as she goes. The guest room is just as big as Beth's room, but with a queen sized bed instead of a full. The room was for her mom when she came to spend the night, which wasn't very often.

"I hope this is okay… I mean otherwise you'll have to sleep on the couch again." Quinn says as she turns on the light.

"This is perfect Quinn. Thank you."

"Okay… do you need anything? Pajamas, extra pillow?"

"Um, if you have a pair a p.j.'s. I could borrow, I left my clothes in the car."

"Yeah, just a second." Quinn runs back into her bedroom and finds a pair of pajamas for Rachel to wear. When she gets back, Rachel is waiting patiently on the bed, taking in her surroundings. "Will this work?

She hands Rachel a pair of light pink silk pajamas.

"They're perfect, thank you… for everything. I know it's kind of overwhelming and last-minute, but I am grateful." Rachel stands awkwardly waiting for Quinn to leave so she can change.

"Oh right… I guess I'll leave, good night Rachel." She says as she shuts the door.

"Goodnight Quinn."

End

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><p>So another chapter down… I hope you liked it because it took me forever to write. I'm looking forward to the reviews on this chapter. Let me know how you felt about Rachel moving in, because I originally thought about her showing up the next day with her bags in hand, but I felt this way would lead to the next chapter easier… thoughts?<p> 


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer… I don't own glee or its characters.

Description: Quinn is a single mom raising her daughter Beth with the help of her nanny Rachel. Somehow things change between the two and they start having feelings for each other.

Author's notes: All mistakes are my own… and I'm trying so hard to catch them. Sorry for the wait… exams are finally over! And I'm sure I failed them all. Thanks to everyone that reviewed, your comments were awesome.

**Late Morning Lullaby**

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><p>Monday's, the beginning of her dreadful week. They brought with them the monotony of deadlines and unnecessary stress. She wouldn't be so stressed if there weren't so many projects she had to oversee. If her co-workers could show more of competence and drive she wouldn't have to work as hard. Things would run smoothly, and she could relax, but that wasn't going to happen. It was an ongoing pattern she faced every week. One would think if you woke up dreading your job, it would be a sign to reevaluate your life. And in any other circumstance, she would have, but she is a single parent raising a child. She had to provide for Beth, and as of right now that meant long hours at a job she didn't love.<p>

'5…4…3…2…1' Beeeeeeeeeeeep! 'And slap.'

Quinn instinctively slaps her blaring alarm with an unnecessary amount of force. 'That's right alarm… do something.' Basking in her victory over her alarm Quinn slowly starts to drift back to sleep. She wasn't sure how much time had gone by when she hears a warm voice call to her.

"Quinn." The light voice calls her name. She's not sure if she's dreaming or awake. The voice sounded dreamy and inviting.

"Mmmhm" Quinn snuggles deeper into her pillow. The warmth of a hand shakes her lightly.

"Quinnnn?" It calls to her again. This time the voice is being whispered in her ear. She groans. "Hey… it's time to wake up." The voice sounded so warm, it made Quinn sigh.

"Nnnugh… five more minutes babe…"Quinn mumbles as she rolls over, and pats her bed trying to find the person who was touching her.

"Quinn?" The voice is louder this time. Quinn opens her sleepy eyes. It takes her a minute to realize what just happened. She sits up quickly when she sees Rachel standing beside her bed.

"Oh my god, Rachel. What are-" Quinn isn't sure if she's awake or not. Everything seemed to be blurring with her subconscious. 'I think I'm having a panic attack."

Rachel tries her to calm the slightly flustered blonde.

"I-I know. I'm sorry. I usually call you in the morning to make sure you're up, but it seemed silly to that seeing as you were right down the hall. I knocked on your door, but you didn't answer, and I didn't know what to do. I didn't want you waking up late for work, seeing as last night I kept you up late. So I panicked and came in to wake you. Please tell me you aren't… like weirded out by all of this." Rachel says all too fast.

Quinn tries to wrap her mind around what Rachel says, but unfortunately her brain was still booting up.

'Yup, I'm having a panic attack.' She breathed out, trying to slow her heart rate, which was still through the roof. Slowly her brain catches up with her, and she is able to take in her surroundings fully. Three things stood out in her current situation. One, Rachel was currently in her bedroom attempting to wake her up while wearing nothing but a pink florescent sports bra, and barely there running shorts. Two, she called Rachel babe, and for some reason thought she was sleeping in her bed, and three she was half undressed herself.

'I must be dreaming.' Quinn flushes and covers herself up.

Rachel watches as Quinn's face goes through several stages of confusion.

'Rachel must think I'm having a stroke.' She shakes her head and tries to focus on speaking. "Um… what…" 'I think the room is getting hotter.' She clears her throat. "Are you w-wearing?" She tries to say it without a stutter.

Rachel looks down at her workout gear. It wasn't anything too extravagant, she wore a similar outfit every morning on her elliptical. However, Quinn didn't have an indoor gym so Rachel opted to go for a quick morning run instead.

Quinn was having a hard time tearing her eyes away from the perfectly sculpted abs of her currently employed nanny. 'Stop staring Quinn, but seriously for real who has abs like that.' She shakes her head again and meets Rachel's eyes. 'I can't even remember the last time I've worked out… it had to be when I was in college… definitely before Beth… or no, maybe a month after I had her.' Quinn loses herself in thought. She's pulled back into reality when she hears Rachel clear her throat.

"I… I was just about to go for a morning run, but I wanted to make sure you were up before I left, that way you weren't scrambling to get ready this morning." Rachel says as she moves further away from Quinn's bed.

Looking around, she notices the dirty clothes from the night before at the foot of the bed.

"Right…" Quinn shakes her head, then throws back her blankets. The action seems to startle Rachel. 'Scrambling seems like a good idea actually.' She needed to get up before she was actually running late, but more importantly she needed to leave the room. "Right… I should… get ready. I need to s-shower and all that." She mumbles to herself as she gets out of bed and walks towards the bathroom. She stumbles over her discarded clothes as she rushes towards the bathroom. With the lights flipped on, she quickly shuts the door.

Rachel was impressed at how fast Quinn actually moved. She shakes her head slightly and smiles as she makes her way towards the bedroom door.

"Okay… um I'll be back in a half hour." Rachel calls through the door.

"Okay." Quinn calls back. She waits to hear the bedroom door shut before she relaxes. 'Okay, so living with Rachel was starting off interesting.' She looks at herself in the large bathroom mirror. Her bed hair was atrocious, and stuck out in every direction possible. She ran her fingers through her hair trying to get it under control. "Just get in the shower Quinn…" she tells herself as she turns on the shower. She strips off the rest of her clothing as she waits for the steam to build up. A shower would help clear her mind, it was too early to be over thinking… well, stuff. Stuff being a half-naked woman waking her up from a not so normal dream. She stares at herself in the mirror. 'How in the world… my abs don't look anything like hers." Quinn runs her hand down her stomach and frowns. 'I use to be able to cut glass with my abs.' She turns away from the defected mirror, opens the glass door to the shower, and submerges herself in the welcoming flow of steaming hot water.

"God that's good." She shivers slightly, and rest her forearms against the tiles of the shower. Letting the warm water roll down her back.

Any anxieties from this morning were slowly washed away. The shower effectively woke her up fully. As she steps out into the steam filled bathroom, she grabs her towel and dries off the remaining water droplets from her body. She then wraps the towel around herself.

Going through her morning route was like a reflex. Everything seemed to fall into place. She steps back into her room, and walks into her closet to search for the perfect outfit. She settles on a black one button suit with a navy blue blouse.

By the time she finished getting ready it was already six ten. She wasn't running too late, and still had time to drink at least one cup of coffee. She grabs her shoes and heads out the door. Looking back once to make she hadn't forgotten anything.

The bed wasn't made, but it was a small sacrifice. 'Oh… phone.' She rushes across the room and grabs the device from her night stand. "Thought I'd forget you, did ya?"

Quinn flips off the lights as she leaves her bedroom. She stops at Beth's bedroom before going downstairs. Quietly she opens her daughter's door and peers inside. Beth's bed was empty. "Huh… she must be down stairs already." She closes the door, and heads towards the stairs.

Downstairs she goes to unlock to the front door only to realize it was already unlocked. 'Duh… Rachel already here.' She was still getting used to having a roommate. As she walks into the kitchen she gasps. The breakfast bar was filled with an assortment of food. This was something she wasn't accustom to. A cup of coffee was usually the only thing she had time for in the morning.

"Mama!" She hadn't even noticed Beth sitting at the breakfast bar. Beth slides off her stool and rushes over to her mom and hugs her.

Quinn wraps her arms around Beth and lifts her up into her arms.

Rachel turns when she hears Beth. She was currently cooking herself an egg beater frittata.

"Morning baby." She rests Beth on her hip as she walks towards the breakfast bar. She sits down in front of the half-eaten omelet Beth had been eating.

"Mama… mama guess what."

"What baby?" She picks up Beth's fork, and cuts a piece of cheese omelet.

"Rachel… Rachel said that she was going to live here." Beth says with glee. Bouncing ever so slightly on her mom's lap. Quinn looks up from the plate as Rachel places a cup of coffee down in front of her. Rachel was already showered and dressed in her normal dress attire.

"I didn't know how you wanted to tell her… but she caught me coming out of her bathroom this morning and I couldn't think of another reason why I was using her shower." Rachel blushes as she explains.

"No its fine… really. I was going to tell her if she was up anyway." She stabs a piece of omelet and brings it to Beth mouth, who eagerly munches the morsel of food. "So you're okay with Rachel moving in, little lion?" She asks Beth.

"Mmmhhmmm." Beth mumbles as she chews her food. Quinn stabs another piece of the omelet, and tastes it. Her eyes roll back slightly, it was that good. "Yes… it'll be so fun." Beth says after she swallows.

Quinn takes a couple more bites of the delicious omelet. She tries her best not to moan as she chews. 'How is this so damn good, it's just eggs. No wait there's some sort of spice too…' she goes to take another bite.

"Mom, that's mine," Beth whines. She tries to wrestle the fork from Quinn's grasp. In the end Quinn feigns defeat and lets her daughter have the fork.

"The eggs are amazing by the way." She tells Rachel, who was plating her own egg beaters. Rachel beams as she brings over her own plate.

"I'm glad you like them… a proper breakfast is the best way to start off the day. Here try a bite of mine." She offers Quinn her fork.

Quinn eyes the fake eggs. She tentatively takes the fork from Rachel and cuts off a small piece of frittata. 'Holy crap that's good.' She thinks as she slowly chews.

Rachel smiles when she hears Quinn groan in approval.

"You like?"

"Surprisingly, yes." Quinn says as she licks her lips. "It's very good." She hands the fork back to Rachel, who quickly tries the frittata.

"Do you want me to make you one before you leave?" She asks in-between bites.

Quinn takes a drink of her coffee. 'Just the way I liked it, scalding.' "No, that's fine…" she says with a hint of disappointment. After tasting the food she wished she had time to stay. "I should get going here soon anyway… don't want to be late for work." She shrugs as she takes another drink of coffee. She picks Beth up from her lap and slides out from under her. "Give mama a kiss." Beth quickly places a kiss on Quinn's cheek. "I love you." She kisses Beth's nose. "I'll see you later little lion… eat the rest of that delicious looking food for me." She winks before grabbing her coffee cup. She heads for the front door.

Rachel follows behind her with a thermos of coffee and a small brown bag. Quinn gathers up her essentials. 'Keys check… bag check, phone check.' She slips on a simple pair of heels.

"Quinn?" Rachel calls before she can leave. Rachel grabs the normal coffee cup from Quinn and hands her a travel cup instead. She also hands her the small baggy. "It's just some fruit… you really should eat more for breakfast so you don't burn out so quickly."

Quinn smiles at the thoughtfulness. 'Maybe living with Rachel wasn't going to be so bad.'

"Have a good day at work." Rachel places a kiss on Quinn's cheek before she can turn to leave. It was a light kiss, but it took the breath right from Quinn's lungs leaving her slightly dizzy. She can't even form words so she nods instead, and rushes to get to her car. She looks to see Rachel waving as she pulls out of the driveway.

Work was a blur. 'How am I supposed to run a department when I can't focus.' Her mind was reeling from this morning. Everything that had caught her off guard was plaguing her thoughts. Rachel's kiss had been unexpected yet she couldn't lie, she enjoyed it. 'I'm I reading too much into this… it was just a friendly kiss. Like the kind of kiss you do when you say goodbye. It didn't mean anything more, right? No, of course it didn't. Rachel was just being friendly. Ugh, this is so frustrating, it felt like more… it was comfortable. Like we'd been living together for months… like we were togeth-'

"Quinn!" A hand waves in front of her face. She hadn't even noticed Santana sitting on her desk.

"Huh?" She blinks.

"Huh… that's all you have to say to me. I've been talking to your white ass for the last half hour. Giving you explicit details of my weekend with your secretary, and all you have to say is 'huh'." She says in a mocking tone. "That's not right. I put time and effort into describing what I thought was epic shit, and you can't even pretend to be interested."

Quinn shakes her head, trying to clear her mind.

"I'm sorry San… I'm… I'm a little off today."

Santana rolls her eyes. "Okay… I'm listening. Go on and tell Doc Sanny about your problems."

"I really don't… I- it's fine." Quinn tries to say confidently but fails.

"Ah nah, you don't get to ignore me with that thousand mile stare and then not tell me what the fuck is wrong with you. Now I'm going to say this one more time before I start charging you for my service. What the hell is wrong with you?" Quinn tries to read her friend, and for the most part Santana at least looked slightly interested in what was bothering her. That or her acting skills have gotten better. "Look, don't fight it babe, just go with it."

Quinn rolls her eyes. "Okay-" she clears her throat. "Rachel… _movedinthisweekend-"_ she says the last part as fast as she could.

"Whoa, hold on" Santana interrupts "you let that fine looking maid moved in with you." A smile creeps across her face. "High five that shit." She raises her hand.

Quinn swats her away. "She's not my maid… she's my nanny. There's a difference-"

"Yeah yeah, whatever… they like wear a different outfit or something. So what did little miss legs do to piss you off. Did she use your toothbrush without asking… oh, did she leave the toilet seat up… did she find your giant stash of playboys-"

"Santana!" Quinn yells to get her to stop.

"What?"

"Shut up."

"Come on Quinny, I'm just joking." Quinn was pissed. "Okay fine, I'm sorry. Now will you please tell me what's bothering you."

"I think…" she lets out her breath. "I think I have like feelings… for Rachel." She says in a whisper, as if someone could hear them outside the office.

"Well no shit, call the Vatican we just solved the unsolvable."

"Be serious San." She swats her friend's arm.

"I am… I already knew you liked her… you practically sprayed the office when she visited last Friday."

"I did not-" Quinn's voice raises.

"Yah did… I had to cover that shit up with Axe body spray… Don't think I didn't notice you were seeping jealousy when I slipped her my number."

She tried to remember back to last Friday. All she could recall, was Santana being highly inappropriate, like always. However, she did remember feeling like she was going to tear Santana's eyes out for looking at Rachel like she was a piece of meat. 'That my friend is jealousy.' The voice in her head says, sounding strangely like Santana. "Ugh, I really… dislike you." She says to both her friend and the voice in her head.

"What I don't understand, is why you're freaking out about this. We both know you ship lady loven, except for that one time you got preggers. And From what I picked up Rachel was into you too. She kept sneaking glances at you the entire time I was ogling her." Quinn lets out a huff and rest her head on the cool surface of her desk. "I say you make a move-"

"I can't make a move on her San… she's my nanny. What if I'm reading her wrong… what if, what if she's just being friendly. She's a very friendly person San-" Quinn says in a rush.

"Whoa hot mama… trust me she likes you. I'm surprised she hasn't jumped your lady parts yet…"

"But- but what if she doesn't." Quinn tries again.

"Hold it right there, I am not, I repeat not going to play that high school 'what if' game with you… it's been overdone way too many times. You're a big girl Quinn, figure it out."

"Ugh… this so unfair!"

"I'm telling you, let loose that swagger you're so famous for and feel her out. Flirting is just as fun… and is all a part of the chase."

"It's just, she so much younger-"

"Age sweetie, has nothing to do with this. Plus, we're the practically the same age. Granted, I'm way hotter than you, and my boobs are still firm from not having something drain them, but you still have that amazing ass. And remember, age doesn't block holes-"

"SAN! That… you're just." Santana laughs. "Sick… what if she doesn't like that I have a child?"

"Really Quinn… really? She watches your crazy demon child every day. I think she likes kids, yours to be exact. If anything, it's like fate handed her to you on a silver platter. And if you happen to be reading the signs wrong, just remember… there are more hot nannies in the sea." Santana pats the back of Quinn's head.

"Shut up San." Quinn mumbles into her desk. Truthfully, in her mind she didn't think anyone could replace Rachel, and the thought of losing her was unbearable. 'What would Beth think if Rachel quit because I couldn't keep my hands off of her nanny.'

"You will thank me at your wedding." She says with a smirk. Quinn lifts her head from her desk at glares at Santana.

"Okay, now you get to leave…" she pushes the Latina off her desk. "Go on, get the fuck out of my office."

"Language… naughty naughty." Santana shakes her finger at Quinn, pissing the blonde off more.

"What are you five, get out!" Santana slowly makes her way towards the door. "And next time you fuck one of my assistants you're fired." Quinn yells as Santana opens the door. 'Probably wasn't the best thing to yell.'

"Liar." Santana yells back as she sends a wink to Quinn and shuts the door.

From there Quinn's day became manageable. Well, as manageable as it could be without her assistant, who for some reason kept taking smoking breaks.

'Funny, I didn't think the smoking area was in the utility closet.' She shakes her head. She would let Santana have her fun before getting rid of yet another assistant. 'Who knows, she might be better tomorrow. If not I have a drawer full of potential new assistants waiting for a job.' She thinks with a smirk.

She immersed herself in work, and let her duties take over her mind. At least her job was able to keep her mind off of Rachel. 'Shit.' Well, it was working. She couldn't get over how strange yet comfortable this morning felt. It felt like, well a family. And Rachel was family, she has been for months now. Yet this morning she seemed to take on a larger role.

"Edit Quinn… edit, " she mumbles to herself as she submerges back into her work.

At the end of the day she had made a large dent in her deadlines. She was even a little ahead of tomorrow's rush. She grabs her briefcase, and purse and walks towards her office door. She switches off the lights as locks the simple lock.

"Holy shit! You are not leaving at five thirty, are you?" Santana comes up behind her. Quinn nods. It was a rare occurrence. "Well shit… may I walk you to your beautiful car?" Santana gestures towards the elevators.

Quinn smirks.

"Why not." She says playfully. They make their way out of the building, and down to the parking ramp. Very few people got to park here. Mostly executives and heads of departments got a space, yet somehow her friend had managed to get a spot as well.

"I'll see you tomorrow bitch." Santana says as she unlocks her car.

"Yeah, bye hoe." Quinn calls back.

"Ouch…" Santana shuts the door to her red Jaguar XKR. Quinn smirks when she hears the new car purr to life.

It was a nice car, but hers was nicer.

"My Audi could kick your car's ass." She mouths to Santana, who in turn gives her the finger before she peels out of her parking spot and into the city's rush hour.

Leaving work early was one thing, maneuvering through rush hour traffic was another. It had taken Quinn years to feel comfortable moving through the city, and she was lucky she's only been in one fender bender accident. She has however been pulled over four times for speeding. Two of which happened in the same day while going to work. That was of course before she had Rachel in her life.

She hadn't felt the weight of her day while at work, yet somehow the strain had caught up to her on the drive home. She turns off her car and lugs her tired body towards the front door. Rachel opens the door before she reaches it, and holds it open for her as she makes her way inside.

'Home sweet home.'

"Quinn, your home early." Rachel says as she closes the door.

"Yeah."

"Here, let me get your stuff." Rachel grabs her briefcase and keys and puts them in their designated spot. "How was your day?" Rachel asks as Quinn slowly takes off her shoes.

"It was okay, I guess," she mumbles. For some reason she never could really describe her day at work with more than five words.

"Well dinner is almost done." Rachel says as she takes the black suit jacket from Quinn and hangs it on the nearby coat tree. Quinn takes a whiff of the air. She could definitely detect some sort of food cooking in the kitchen. "I know you probably want to relax, but well… Beth wanted to show you something before dinner. If you are up to it, that is."

This intrigues Quinn.

"What does she want to show me?" Rachel ushers her into the living room. Right away Quinn notices a lab top plugged into her flat screen TV. "What's going on?" Quinn asks, she was curious in finding out what the two of them had been up to while she was at work.

Rachel leads her to the couch and motions her to sit.

"Just sit please, and make yourself comfortable… I'll be right back." Rachel quickly goes into the kitchen. She returns a moment later with a glass of red wine in her hand. Quinn raises her eyebrow.

"So… what's going on?"

Rachel hands her the glass.

"Um… well what Beth has planned for you is a small PowerPoint." The way Rachel says it makes it sound normal for a five year old to give a power point.

"A power point… for?" She draws out.

Rachel smiles. "Well… we went to the grocery store today, and on our way Beth noticed this new building that just opened up. It's this new dance and martial arts studio. Anyway, she kept asking if she could go, I kept telling her that she needed to ask you. However, I told her she need to do some research on this before she just asked. It's something I always did growing up, before I asked my parents for anything I would make sure I supplied them with ample amounts of information on the subject. It was a really great way of learning. So we made a power point on this so she could highlight why she wanted to join the classes. Anyway, it's not too long… in fact, it's mostly pictures of dancers and ninjas, but it was a good first attempt at a power point." Rachel says.

"She wants to join a dance class?" Was all Quinn got out of that conversation.

Rachel was about to explain again when she sees Beth standing in the doorway to the living room.

"Rachel…"Beth calls in a small voice.

"Oh… sorry right. Just go with it." She whispers to Quinn before stepping into the middle of the living room. Quinn takes a sip of her wine. She really didn't know what to expect. Rachel clears her throat. "Ladies, and well lady, welcome to the first ever Beth Fabray persuasive presentation, and without further ado, I would like to introduce Beth Fabray." Rachel claps and prompts Quinn to as well. Rachel moves back to the couch where Quinn was currently sitting. "Here put your feet up and relax… this will be fun, I promise." Rachel says with a smirk. Quinn pulls her feet on the couch. From behind them Beth skips into the room. She currently wears a pink tutu with a black belt tied around her head. Quinn almost spits her wine out.

She looks at Rachel, who is giving Beth her full attention.

"Good evening mama…" Beth reads off a giant flash card. She picked reading up relatively quickly thanks to Rachel. Sure, there were some things she had trouble pronouncing, but she is five.

The TV screen turns on revealing a cover page with both a ballerina and the karate kid.

Quinn smiles and tries not to giggle at the tittle screen.

"Today I would like to tell you why I want to join…" Beth loses her place. "Um… join the dance duo-dojo downtown," she pauses and smiles.

Beth's presentation was very funny. Quinn found herself enjoying how Beth tried to come across as a professional. It was adorable. But half way through the presentation Quinn made the mistake of allowing her feet to rest on Rachel's lap. Rachel told her she could of course. But she was cut off guard when Rachel started massaging her feet.

It was heaven. She felt relaxed yet at the same time anxious. Rachel was touching her feet, and she wasn't sure if it was because she was being friendly or if it was something more. By the time the presentation was over, she knew two things. One, Rachel's hands were gods, and several times throughout the presentation she found herself wondering how good those hands would be in other places, and two Beth was going to be joining some sort of dancing Dojo.

"The end." Beth finishes. Both Rachel and Quinn clap as Beth takes a bow in front of them.

"That was…" Quinn catches her breath. "Interesting."

"Did you like it mama?" Beth beams.

"I did…" Quinn nods slowly. "It was very… innovative and creative, and was probably one of the best presentations I've sat through all day." She gives Beth a warm smile.

"So does that mean I can join the class?" Beth gives her a megawatt smile back. She looked so hopeful.

"Well… while I find your presentation informative, I still think we're going to need to look further into the details. Maybe on Friday we can swing over and talk to the teacher and check her credentials." Quinn says, sounding more like a business woman than a mom.

Rachel laughs, while Beth looks confused.

"So?" Beth wasn't sure what her mama just said.

"So… it's a maybe." Quinn concludes.

Beth looked like she was about to argue. When Rachel shakes her head to catch the child's attention. From what Quinn could tell it was a silent message between the two of them that said 'remain professional and smile', and that's just what Beth did.

"Well… then I'll be waiting for your dis-discussion… you have my number." She says in a very professional sounding voice that makes Quinn burst out in laughter. They shake hands.

"That I do… so what do you say you run and wash your hands for dinner, okay?" Beth smiles them runs from the room leaving Rachel and Quinn alone.

"Thank you for playing along. The whole thing was silly, I know, but I think it'll help build her confidence, don't you?"

"Seems like it. How long did she practice that speech?"

"Um, it kept us busy for a couple of hours. So what do you really think… about his whole dance thing." Rachel asks as she starts massaging Quinn's feet again.

'How could I think clearly while I'm getting a massage.' Quinn rests her head back against the arm rest of the couch. She can't help but groan as she relaxes into Rachel's hands. "I think I need to look into it more… and at least meet the teacher. Otherwise, I think it's a good idea. Like the presentation said, it'll help with coordination." Quinn lets out her breath as Rachel works her magic on her.

"And she might make friends too, which will be good since she's starting school soon." Rachel says. Quinn nods and lets her eyes close.

'This is way to relaxing.' She thinks as she feels herself start to fall asleep.

"I'm done… let's eat!" Beth rushes into the kitchen. Quinn's eyes jerk open. She slides her feet off of Rachel and stands.

"Well… I guess we're eating." Quinn says as she escorts Rachel into the dining room. Beth was already sitting at the table.

Quinn wasn't expecting the feast that was presented in front of her. It was a beautiful mixture of vegan and non-vegan food. She was having difficulty deciding whether to eat the stuffed eggplant, or the loaded chicken breasts.

"When did you have time to cook all of this food?" She asks as she takes both the eggplant and the chicken. 'Rachel has major multitasking skills.' She takes a bite of the chicken and groans. 'And evidently was also a Betty Crocker genius...'

"Beth helped me… I thought we should celebrate. So I'd like to make a toast." Rachel raises her glass of wine across the small table. "To new beginnings… I know I sprang this on you, but I feel like this was the right move, and I'm grateful for your hospitality." Quinn smiles and lightly reaches her glass to Rachel's. They touch ever so slightly.

Beth was too busy eating to notice what was going on around her.

"Beth sweetie, chew please… and breathe a little. Your food isn't going anywhere, I promise." Quinn's watches Beth consume her food with glee.

After dinner Rachel started cleaning up the kitchen, which left Quinn with the task of bathing Beth. By the time they finished Rachel met them upstairs. Beth was cleaned and ready for bed. Quinn tucked her under her blanket before grabbing the book from the girl's night stand. It was Alice in Wonderland, one of Quinn's favorites.

"Are you sure this is the book Rachel's reading you?" Beth lets out a yawn as she nods.

"Yeaaaahh, we just started." Quinn opens the book to the marked page.

"Curiouser and curiouser." Quinn reads until Beth falls asleep. Which only amounted for about ten minutes. She turns to leave when she notices Rachel standing in the doorway.

Rachel had been listening to Quinn read. Quietly the two of them leave the sleeping child's room. Quinn pulls the door closed. It was only nine thirty, which was the time Quinn normally got home from work.

"So did you need help cleaning up the kitchen" Quinn asks.

"No, I managed." The two of them wander back down stairs.

"Did you get all of your stuffed moved in from your car?"

"Yup… I called my dad today too."

"What did he say?" 'Please don't say you're moving back.'

"Well, he wasn't happy, but in the end he said it was my life. He even helped by packing up the rest of my room. I was thinking maybe on Saturday we could go over there and grab the rest of it. We may need a truck though."

"We'll figure it out, I can always rent a moving van for a couple of hours. I just don't want your dad to be mad that you're moving out."

"He's not mad… he sounded happy on the phone. Actually, he said he was impressed I moved out in the middle of the night. Maybe he was just worried I was going to live with them until I was thirty or something." Rachel jokes.

They both laugh.

"Well, since we are talking about moving, why don't we go down into the basement. I'll give you the unofficial tour of your new living space."

"Quinn, I am okay with living in the guest room. You don't have to go out of your way to make your basement into a living space for me. I'm content with just a room."

"Nonsense, Rachel you need a place where you can get away from us."

"I really don't think I need any break from you, or Beth for that matter. I missed her every time I went home. It'll be nice knowing I can see her whenever I want."

Quinn leads her downstairs. The basement was used primarily for extra storage, but it wasn't overcrowded.

"This room could be… well, we could move this stuff into the back room, and you could use this as a large bedroom. There is space for a couch and maybe a TV if you want one. The bathroom is just off this room, it probably needs some upgrading. Otherwise, I think a little paint will make this place livable. If you want we can go bed shopping too, I'm sure you can fit a king down here, unless you want your old bed." Quinn rambles.

The space was very well kept, really all Rachel would need to do is move a bed in and she would be fine. There were several things that caught Rachel's attention as she looked around. The main thing that stood out was a white baby grand piano sitting in the corner. It was buried under some art supplies, but there was no way Rachel would miss such a beautiful looking instrument.

"Quinn what is that?" She points the instrument. "Is that yours" Quinn nods. "How did I not know you were musically inclined. Or are those just for show?" Rachel walks towards the piano and notices the acoustic guitar propped up next to it.

"I use to take lessons, thanks to my mom, and then picked up the guitar in college. This piano, however, came with the house." Quinn watches Rachel run her hand over the closed top of the piano.

"Do you still play?" She turns back to Quinn.

"Not for some years."

"Oh please, you have to play something for me… please." she adds with a smile.

'How could you say no to that.'

"Well I might be able to play something for you… for a price of course." Rachel lifts her eyebrow in confusion. "Don't act like you don't know. I have been hearing stories about this amazing singing voice, and have yet to fully experience it. So, I will play something on the piano as long as you promise to sing to me."

Rachel smiles and claps her hands together. "Okay… as long as it won't wake Beth." She says.

"She won't hear us, trust me. This room was set up for the piano, so it's well sound proof. That and Beth sleeps like the a log." Rachel could agree there.

"Okay, deal… but you go first."

Quinn helps Rachel move the remainder of the boxes from the piano. She then sits down on the barely used bench, and lifts the guard. Her fingers run lightly over the ceramic keys. It had been a while since she'd played.

"Well…." Rachel says impatiently.

"Don't rush me… I have to think of- I think I remember…" The first thing that comes to mind isn't her favorite, but it was the only thing that wasn't longer than five minutes. Her fingers slide ever so smoothly across the keys as the music of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata rings out. It wasn't a fast moving piece, in fact it came across as a simple elegance. Something Quinn though Beethoven establish beautifully. Sure, she enjoyed playing Chopin, and occasionally she played Mozart, but Beethoven would always hold a special place in her heart.

Rachel was transfixed at the moment as the beautiful music enveloped the room. It was slow, and for some reason made her sad, but it also made her smile. Maybe it was because Quinn was so focused on the notes. She claps as Quinn lightly plays the last note and ends the piece.

"That was beautiful… really Quinn." She wipes a tear from her eye.

"Thanks, Beethoven was one of my favorite composers. He just had that drive to create. Even when he became deaf, he created beautiful music. Okay, now it's your turn… what are you going to sing for me?" Quinn smiles, she was happy she would get to hear Rachel sing.

Rachel blushes. She always had a go to the song, yet it didn't seem to compare to Beethoven. Instead, she grabs the acoustic guitar and gives it a strum.

Quinn recognizes the tune, it was one of her favorites. That was until Rachel's voice sang the first lyrics.

"There's a fire starting in my heart. Reaching a fever pitch and it's bring me out the dark. Finally I can see you crystal clear. Go ahead and sell me out and I'll lay our ship bare." Her voice sang in tune with the acoustic guitar. Quinn lost herself in Rachel's voice. She seemed to have perfect control over it. She didn't strain it to hit the high notes of the song, instead she made the notes flow almost effortlessly. By the time Rachel sang the last chorus Quinn was smiling uncontrollably. It was inhuman at how well that sounded. 'Adele might have to watch her back.' Quinn stands and applauds Rachel when the song ends.

"That was amazing… I feel like I was at a concert." Quinn can't control her smile.

"Oh shush, I just hope I didn't wake Beth… I let that high note get away from me. I forgot I was singing in a basement and not a stage."

Quinn was still stunned.

"I just… I can see why your dad wants you back in school. Rachel that was unbelievably good. It should be illegal to keep your voice from the public." Rachel frowns.

"The thing is, I don't think I'm ready to be a public figure. When I was in high school, sure, it was like the only thing I thought about was singing on stage, but now… I just… I don't know what I want. Or what I'm willing to do to get what I want. But after hearing your Beethoven I think I have some inspiration to fall in love with music again… to get past just singing the words and actually feel what I'm saying."

By the time Rachel and Quinn went back upstairs Quinn knew two things… one she was falling for her daughter's nanny, and two she was determined to rekindle Rachel's love for music, somehow.

End…

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><p>I hope you liked it… I think it turned out well… let me know what you think. Also things to look forward to… who runs the Dancing Dojo? I'll give you a hint she's blonde and dances… also could probably kick my ass, Idk… just saying…<p> 


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer… I don't own glee or its characters.

Author's notes: Wow… that's about all I can think to say, I'm sure there are other descriptive words to describe the enormity of what I think of the reviews, but I'm getting stuck on wow.. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, or have taken an interest in this story. I'll try not to disappoint. Any grammar and mistakes are my own, and I'll try my best to catch them. Sorry for the wait, I wanted to post this before the 30th, but I kept going back and changing stuff.

**Late Morning Lullaby**

* * *

><p>She sat alone on her white piano bench in the middle of the dark room. The light above her head illuminates the baby grand's keys in front of her. She lightly runs her fingertips over the smooth black and white ceramic keys. She presses them as softly as possible to create a light melody of music. Quinn watched as her hands moved on their own accord having no control over their movement. She recognized the notes as they surround her in the dark room. It was relaxing, and so familiar to her. What she didn't understand was how she got here. The last thing she remembered was saying goodnight to Rachel,and then…<p>

It all seemed to click from there. Instead of her usual mundane dreams about clocks and time, she was now dreaming about playing the piano. It felt so real as she hit the overture of the piece. She couldn't help but stare at her fingers as they started to move rapidly across the keys building the song to its climax. She smiles and then looked up to see if there was sheet music in front of her. She gasps when she's met with two bright brown eyes looking down on her. Rachel is sitting where the sheet music should be. She's wearing a white dress that makes her glow in the soft light. Quinn shakes her head to make sure she wasn't seeing things. But the familiar eyes are still there, boring into her own.

Quinn tries to look away, she needed to focus on something else besides the eyes that seem to be trying to see into her soul. She decides to look down at the keys of the piano, but instead of the white and black keys her fingers had been running over, she was now lightly running the tips of her fingers across tan toned legs. Instinctively she attempts to pull away, but just like before she has no control over her body, which seem to want nothing more than run themselves over the tanned legs. Rachel smiles down at her as her hands disappear under the white material of her dress. The distance between them vanishes as if Quinn's hands are pulling Rachel on top of her. Before she knows it the dream girl was straddling her waist, and wrapping her arms loosely around her neck. Quinn gasps, she can almost feel the hot breath against her lips as Rachel leans in. She's just millimeters away from kissing her lips. She could almost taste her, if only she could lean in a tad bit more. 'Quinn', she hears her name being called ever so softly, just as their lips meet.

*pop

Quinn's eyes open before her dream can finish. She can still see those full lips, calling to her, wanting her. 'Why did it have to be a dream.' She groans and rolls over to look at the time. '2:45… damn.' She sits up in bed, and switches on the bedside lamp. 'There is no way I'm falling back to sleep after that one.' Outside, she hears a low rumble of thunder. 'It's going to rain. Hopefully it's done before I have to go to work.' There was nothing worse than driving to work in a storm. It was even worse once she got into the city. The humidity was always unbearable in-between those tall buildings. Not to mention how incredibly crazy people seemed to drive as soon as the weather turned bad. Pulling back her comforter she slides out of bed, and grabs her robe. The house was still, and quiet as she walked down the hallway. The wind outside blows loudly against the side of the house. 'It's going to be a nasty one by the sound of the wind.' Quinn sneaks past Rachel's room then Beth's before quietly making her way downstairs. Lightning flashes as she walks into the living room, and moves towards the kitchen. She flips on the lights as she walks in before opening the refrigerator, and grabbing the jug of milk. It's just what she needs to fall back to sleep. She grabs a cup from the cupboard and pours herself a half glass of milk. This was something she used to do when Beth was still a baby. It was only the way she could fall back asleep after those three a.m. feedings. She quickly chugs the entire glass before setting it in the sink. Quinn tries to focus on the storm brewing outside the kitchen window, instead of the dream she just had. She fails miserably. 'It felt so real.' She gets lost in thought. 'How am I going to talk to Rachel without wanting to kiss those lips.' The lights flicker as another jolt of lightning flashes across the sky. The storm was here.

"Mama?" A voice calls her back to reality. She turns and sees Beth standing in the doorway, looking like she was about to cry. The young girl was rubbing her eyes from the light in the kitchen.

"Beth, sweetie what are you doing out of bed?" Quinn asks.

"The storm… scared me." Beth whimpers. Quinn hadn't even realized it had started raining.

"Aw, come here little lion." She holds open her arms as Beth runs into them. Beth didn't like thunderstorms, even though her mama told her she was safe inside the house, she was still scared. Quinn picks up the distraught girl and holds her tightly. "Everything is going to be fine, okay baby. The storm will soon pass, I promise." Quinn coos when she feels Beth flinch as another crack of lightning rolls across the sky followed by the thunderous boom of thunder.

"But it's so loud." Beth voice sounds like a whisper compared to the storm.

The rain and wind pelted their house.

" I know sweetie… come on. Why don't we go back upstairs, and get some sleep." Quinn says.

"Can I sleep in your room?" she asks her mom as she curled into her arms

"Of course you can." Quinn puts away the milk and shuts off the lights. She easily carries Beth back up the stairs, and into her room. Beth quickly climbs under the covers. She curls up next to Quinn as soon as Quinn lies down. She was trying so hard not to cry. She wanted to be brave like her mom. "Hey, everything is going to be okay… right? I would never let anything hurt you, including this big ol' storm." She pulls Beth into arms.

"I know…" she buries her head in her mom's arms as the storm rages outside. "How come you're not scared?" She gets enough courage to peek up at her mom.

"Well actually… I use to be when I was your age." Quinn whispers. Beth looks like she doesn't believe her, because her mom wasn't scared of anything. "It's true, I use to wake up and then run into my parents room every time there was thunder and lightning. Then my mom would pick me up and take me back to my room. She would hold me, just like I'm holding you." She squeezes Beth slightly causing her to giggle. "Then she would tell me that everything was going to be okay, and I didn't need to be afraid." Quinn thinks back. "Then she would sing to me."

"She would?"

"Yup, you see thunderstorms like it when you sing to them, and every time she would sing the storm would disappear." Quinn explained.

"Really?" Beth looks at her mom with hopeful eyes.

"Yup."

"Will you sing, and make it go away?"

"I can try." Quinn starts to hum the first song that comes to her. It seemed fitting since she use to sing it to Beth when she was a baby. Beth tries to stay awake, but Quinn's voice slowly puts her to sleep. As Quinn finishes the final verse Beth was sleeping soundly, and the storm as loud as it was slowly started to die down. She couldn't help but smile at the soft breath hitting her neck almost like she was purring. "Such a little lion." Quinn whispers as she kisses Beth's head and closes her eyes. 'Might as well try to get some sleep.' Quinn fell back to sleep effortlessly thanks to the little heater snuggled next to her.

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><p>Five forty five Rachel sits up quickly in bed. She looks over at her clock, it is flashing twelve at her. "Crap, the power must have went out, and I overslept. I never oversleep… ug… I hope Quinn is up." Panicked, she jumps out of bed and rushes to Quinn's room. Not even bothering to knock she swings open the door. "Quinn!" She all but yells, but instead of finding the still sleeping blonde she is met with an empty bed. Well, almost empty. Beth was still snuggled into the blankets.<p>

"I'm in here Rach." Quinn swings the bathroom door open. She just finished drying her hair, and was now plucking her eyebrows. Rachel is both relieved, and embarrassed for finding the blonde up and dressed. It takes her a moment to compose herself.

"S-sorry… the power went out-" Rachel starts to explain.

"During the storm, yeah I set my phone so it still went off. Luckily I didn't fall back to sleep, but thanks to that bed hog over there I didn't really have a choice." Rachel can't help but chuckle. "It's not funny, that little girl can kick, maybe martial arts are a bad idea." Quinn catches a glimpse of Rachel's clothing through the mirror. The girl was still dressed in her pajamas and her hair had a bad case of bed head. And for a second her eyes focus on the younger girl's lips. 'Today is going to be a bad day.' She thinks as she pulls out her makeup kit.

"I'm sure it will be fine, who knows, maybe she'll fall in love with dancing instead of karate. She's okay though? She's not sick or something?" Rachel looks over her shoulder at the sleeping child.

"No, um… the storm woke her up last night." Quinn turns towards Rachel. "She got a little scared by the thunder and lightning so I let her sleep in here." Quinn whispers. "But for some reason she thinks she needs to have the entire king sized bed to herself." Quinn goes back to doing her makeup in the mirror. Rachel watches her before realizing she should probably stop staring at her boss and do something more productive.

"Well, I guess I could start making breakfast since you're up. It doesn't look like I'm going for a run today anyway. It's still raining."

"Okay… I should be down soon."

Rachel goes to leave and as soon as she does Quinn exhales her breath she'd been holding. She wanders downstairs after finishing getting ready, leaving Beth still asleep in her bed. By the time she gets down the stairs, her coffee and newspaper are already out on the breakfast bar.

"I don't think I've said good morning yet." Rachel says as she put a bowl of fruit down in front of Quinn. "Although it seems like the weather could be nicer."

"I know right. I was hoping it would be done by now." Quinn sits down and opens the paper and takes a sip of her coffee. She tries to focus on today's news instead of the brunette eating strawberries. 'Ug those look amazing… I mean… no, they look amazing. It's like I'm a teenager or something… focus on something else Quinn.' Quinn clears her throat to distract herself from Rachel's lips.

"So how did you sleep last night? Any weird recurring dreams I need to know about?" Rachel asks. Quinn spits her coffee across the paper. "Are you okay?" She was about to walk around the table to pat Quinn's back.

Quinn coughs a couple times, but stops Rachel from helping her. "I'm fine… It was hot and you know… went down the wrong pipe." Quinn ends lamely. Rachel nods and goes back to eating.

"So… you didn't answer my question. What did you dream about, I want to analyze the whole thing." Rachel says in a cheery voice. Quinn didn't need to think about what she dreamt. It was embedded into her subconscious now. Most people tend to forget their dreams after they wake up, but for her that wasn't going to be happening anytime soon.

"I um… didn't have a recurring dream this time." She stutters.

"Oh… a new one this is even more interesting. Come on spit it out, but not like you did the coffee please." Rachel says with a smirk.

"It really wasn't that interesting." 'I dreamt about me running my hands up your legs, and wanting to kiss those irresistible lips of yours.' "It was mostly about the piano. I was playing it." Quinn tries to play it off like it was boring. Which it wasn't.

"That's it?" Rachel asks. She could tell there was more. Usually Quinn liked to divulge her dreams in great detail since they were usually weird.

"Yup, just me sitting at my piano… playing the piano."

"Huh, I wonder why you dreamt that, maybe it was because that was the last thing you did yesterday before you went to bed. Or maybe it's because you haven't played in a while so your mind is trying to tell you to continue." Rachel suggests.

"Yeah, maybe." 'Or maybe it's telling me to kiss you, and rub my hands up your legs.' She thinks. 'Okay, I should go to work.' Quinn finishes her coffee. "Well, I should go to work." Quinn gets up and starts to walk towards the front door.

"Wait, so early… you still have ten minutes before you have to." Rachel follows after her.

"Yeah, I'm going in early. I want to take a half day on Friday so we can go meet this dance kung fu… whatever you call it place. This should help me get ahead for Friday, so I don't have to do anything but sign some papers, and go to one final meeting." Quinn explains as she puts on her shoes and grabs all of her work essentials.

"That's a good plan. Well, I guess I'll see you when you get home." Rachel stands on her tippy toes to place a kiss on Quinn's cheek just like she did the day before. Only this time she manages to catch the corner of Quinn's mouth.

'Oh my god.' Quinn was frozen. 'She got my lip.' She blinks and tries her best to smile, and say goodbye. Unfortunately, her goodbye was a mumble of mixed up words. Finding the need to escape, Quinn opens the front door and steps outside into the rain. 'Get to the car Quinn it's still raining.' She forces herself towards her vehicle.

Quinn's drive to work was epic. Not only did she nearly kill a whole family of ducks, but she was also pulled over by a state trooper for driving erratically. After explaining to the officer that she almost massacred an entire family of ducks, which caused her to swerve, he let her go with just a warning, and while she was grateful she didn't get a ticket she was also going to be late for work. 'So much for getting there early.'

Work was like any other day. She tried to fall into the mundane routine, but found herself deep in thought.

"So are you just going to stare at your computer all day, or are you actually going to work." Santana walks into her office and sits down on the couch. Quinn looks at her friend and rolls her eyes.

"You should really knock before you just come into my office." Quinn says.

"Why, it's not like your busy. I've walked past your office twice now, and you haven't moved. So something must be on that pretty little brain of yours so you might as well tell me." Santana smirks. Anything to get out of work.

"It's fine, really… I'm just having an off day." 'Again.'

"Come on Q, I know all of your weird facial expressions. I could probably write a book about them if I didn't have better, more interesting things to do with my time."

"You know all my expressions?" Quinn asks. "That's kind of creepy."

"It's not creepy your just too easy to read. And from what I see you're either pregnant again-"

"Santana I am not-" she tries to interrupt.

"Or, something happened with your new roommate this morning that has left your mind in mush." Quinn bites her tongue. "Eh… I was right wasn't I, this is a very Berry mystery. So what did she do to get your feathers all riled up."

"Nothing…" Santana clearly doesn't believe that. "Okay fine, quit staring at me like I'm a freak. I had a… provocative dream about her, okay."

"You had a sex dream? And this has you acting weird because?" Satana draws out.

"It wasn't a sex dream… we weren't having sex…" she whispers. "It was just a weird dream that she happened to be in."

"Right… so in this non-sex dream of yours, what happened."

"Well, I was playing piano one minute and the next Rachel was there… then there was some touching and I was going to kiss her but then I woke up-" Quinn starts to explain.

"Hold up… you woke up. Okay, I'm stopping you now, because this sex dream is lame."

"It wasn't a sex dream." Quinn says a little louder than she should.

"Exactly my point, so I don't want to hear about it."

"But It just felt so… real… now I can't stop thinking about it. I mean her lips looked so…, and this morning with the strawberries and goodbye kiss-." Quinn rants.

"Wait goodbye kiss?" Santana stops her.

"Yeah." Quinn shrugs.

"She gives you a kiss before you go to work?" Santana asks again.

"Yeah… I don't know how to explain it, because every time she does it leaves me unable to function."

"Ah, now I understand what's wrong with you.. You're horny." Santana says with a smirk.

"I am not... " She whispers.

"Come on Quinn when was the last time you've had sex, for real now. Your body is craving it, and since you're attracted to Rachel it's reacting to her. All you need to do is jump on that nanny like it's going out of style."

"I can't believe I dated you, you're just as bad as a guy."

"I am not… your bitchin because you know I'm right about you and Rachel and it pisses you off, because you don't have the balls to do anything about it. Come on Quinn you're a grown ass adult here, and so is she by the way. So stop playing these childish games with her and make a move." Santana gets up and leaves, leaving Quinn speechless, and even more confused than before.

'I'm not bitchin… I just don't want to ruin what I have with her already. Plus, I'm not even sure if she's into girls, and I can't just ask her flat out. What does Santana know anyway, ug this sucks.' Quinn didn't get home until eleven that night.

* * *

><p>The rest of the week was a blur.<p>

She woke up early, worked hard during the day, and came home late to a quiet house. She didn't get a lot of down time with Beth apart from breakfast, and things with Rachel were still… complicated or for her anyway. What Santana had said was making her over think everything she knew. So when Friday came around, she was relieved. It was time to relax. Today she was only working until noon, which was a first for her. She didn't even remember most of the morning, only the over dramatic speech from Santana about skipping out while the rest of them were slaving away, and that she was abusing her work powers, or something around those lines. In the end it didn't matter because at twelve o'clock she was walking out the door and was heading back home to spend it with Beth and Rachel.

She pulled into her driveway at one o'clock and practically sprinted to the door. As soon as she burst through the entry way and dropped her work gear she was practically tackled by a five year old wild child.

"MAAAMAAA's home!" Beth screamed as she flew into her mom's arms. Quinn picked her up and swung her around. The two of them could help but break out into giggles.

"I told you I would be." She hugs Beth tightly.

"She hasn't stopped talking about it all morning." Rachel says as she walks into the front entry.

"Well, I'm here now, so what are we going to be doing first?"

"Rachel says we need to go grocery shopping and and then you said we could go and look at the dance studio."

"Was that today?" Quinn feigns ignorance. "Huh… I don't think-"

"Ma, it's today, it's today." Beth squirms out of Quinn's arms.

"Oh, now I remember, the dance and martial arts studio right." Beth nods fiercely.

"And don't forget about redoing the basement too. We could stop and pick up some paint or something."

"I forgot all about that. We probably should have made a list-" Rachel holds up a list.

"It just has some small yet essential things I'll need. You said we could get a truck right, because I'd like my bed from my house, and the elliptical. Then I also wrote down a list of possible paint colors that we have to try out first." Rachel smiles. She hands Quinn the list.

"Wow, and here I thought you were okay with living in the spare bedroom" Rachel's mouth opens. "I'm kidding Rach." Quinn laughs.

"Good, because I know I said that initially, but that was until I saw that amazing piano, and now I feel like I need to be sleeping there. That and we'll need the extra room for when grandma comes over." Rachel ends with a smile.

"Exactly… now if you'll excuse me, I need to change. I'll meet you two in the car." Quinn scrambles upstairs to change out of her suit, and into a pair of blue jeans and her favorite Yale t-shit. Rachel and Beth are already in the car by the time Quinn locks the door. Putting Beth into her car seat was sometimes challenging, but Rachel seemed to have it under control. "Are we all ready?" Quinn asks as she slides into the driver seat.

"Yup." Beth says from the back seat.

They hit the hardware store first. It was actually a quick stop for a few pails of paint, and some new light fixtures. Rachel's said she knew how to change out the old ones. As for the bathroom they both decided that if they were going to upgrade it, they would have to bring in some additional help. Not that it really needed it since it was fully finished. After the hardware store the three of them drove to the grocery store. It was the first time in a long time that Quinn has stepped foot in one. Rachel did all the shopping for her now.

"This place has changed." Quinn garbs a cart.

"Mom, I want to ride in it." Beth says as they enter the store.

"Okay, just a second." Quinn picks Beth up and places her in the cart. She follows Rachel through the stacks of food since she has the list.

"Is there anything special you want me to make this week?" Rachel asks as they go down the cereal aisle.

"Um… that saffron rice with shrimp would be nice. If it's not too much trouble."

"It's already on my list." Rachel says with a smirk.

"Pst Rachel, don't forget the Spooky-o's" Beth says as they pass the box.

"Oh, how did I forget that." Rachel smirks as she grabs the box and places it in the cart. By the time they got to the checkout line the cart was full of food.

"We didn't get any fresh produce." Quinn says as she helps Rachel unload the cart.

"I actually buy that at the farmers market. They usually have better deals anyway. " Quinn had no idea that's where the delicious fruit and vegetables were coming from. One hundred dollars later the three of them were packing up the car. Their final stop was the dance and martial arts building, it looked relatively new as they pulled up. What stood out was how big the place actually was.

"This is it?" Quinn asks as she parks the car.

"Yup!" Beth says from the back seat.

"It's right next to a Dollar Tree store." Quinn says to Rachel.

"Yeah, am I missing something?" Rachel asks as she eyes the establishment. It looked very clean cut to her.

"Well, don't you think that's kind of weird for a new place to want to open."

"Not really." Rachel says as she opens the door. "You see this place is only five minutes from a very family friendly community, and ten minutes away from ours. They set up in a place that was convenient for families to drive to." Rachel explains. "When I was young I had to take lessons in the city, and dad and daddy got so sick of driving me back and forth. They even threatened to withdraw me from the program. This place is just as good as any New York studio. I read that their owner use to dance professionally." Rachel says as she gets Beth out of the car.

"But what about this martial arts thing… I didn't think dance and fighting went together." Quinn says as she holds Beth's hand while Rachel holds the other. They walk into the main lobby of the building, it was pretty obvious how the place was set up. Dance was on one side, while martial arts were on the other. There were large windows for parents to watch from. The dance studio was lined with mirrors, and also had a bar in the middle of the room. The martial arts room was similar in size and appearance, but instead of a wood floor it was covered with a blue mat.

"Wow, this place is amazing." Rachel mutters. "What do you think Beth?" She asks the blonde who seemed shell shocked by everything that was happening around them.

"It's so big." Beth says as they walk up to the front desk.

"Hi, we would like to talk to someone about both your dance, and martial arts classes." Rachel says to the receptionist at the front desk.

"That would be Miss Pierce, she handles all of our enrollments. She's just through those doors in the office" the lady says as she points to the door behind her. "You can go right on in, she isn't busy right now." The lady says as she ushers them through. As they walk into the room a young, bubbly blonde waves them in. She was taller than Quinn, and looked like a dancer.

'She can't be any older than Rachel.' Quinn thinks as they open the door to the office.

The lady stands and approaches them. "Hi, my name is Brittany Pierce, I'm the owner, and also a teacher of the Dancing Dojo." The blonde extends her hand. "And you are?" Quinn shakes the blonde's hand.

"I'm Quinn Fabray, this is Rachel Berry" Rachel shakes Brittany hand next.

"It's nice to meet you." Brittany says.

"Same, your place is amazing." Rachel takes in the office. It was small and covered in dance and martial arts posters.

"Thank you, and who is this young lady." Brittany kneels in front of Beth and smiles.

"Beth." Beth says shyly as she hides behind Quinn.

"Well Beth it's a pleasure to meet you. Why don't you guys take a seat, and if you have any questions about the studio you can ask me, and if you're interested in joining I can give you a quick tour of the building." Brittany says.

"Okay, I guess we did have some questions, mostly about your programs and credentials." Rachel says as she sits.

"How old are you?" Quinn interrupts.

"Quinn you can't just ask her her age."

"It's fine, I actually get that a lot, I'm twenty seven. I graduated from Julliard with BFA in Dance. I also have experience with choreography, and did a tour with the Single Lady's a couple years ago. After traveling for a year I decided to settle down and open up my own studio. It's always been a dream of mine, so here we are." Brittany explains, and ends with a smile.

"That's quite an impressive resume." Rachel says. "What kind of classes do you offer for children the age of five."

"Well, we have beginner classes for both dance and martial arts. Our beginners dance class is small, at the moment we only have four students in the class. Since it's a beginners class we start the kids out with a verity of different styles. We dabble in from ballet to tap, jazz and hip hop, and any others the students want to try. This is where they find out what they like to do, and after they graduate from the first level they can choose to focus on one style or more. That goes for our beginners martial arts class as well accept their main focus will be on karate, and as they progress they will have the option to study Brazilian jiu-jitsu or kick boxing, which I teach. Including me we only have three martial arts teachers and five dance teachers." Brittany explains.

"Wow, is there any way they can do both?" Quinn asks.

"Yes, actually that's what we like to suggest until they decide what they like to do. The same kids in the our dance class are also in are martial arts class, Beth would be with kids she knows every week." Brittany explains.

"And what does a schedule look like?" Quinn asks.

"Right now my beginners are meeting Monday Wednesday Fridays at 4:45 to 5:15. It later, so parents have time to come to the class and watch. Then, if you do both dance and karate it just alternates days so today we have dance class, then on Monday will be karate and so on."

"And if they quit one, do they just meet on the same days as-"

"Yup, because they're young we don't want to put too much stress on the body. So they meet less, and as they progress the length of the class increases along with the times per week they meet. Any other questions." The cheerful blonds ask.

"Do you hold recitals and tournaments?" Rachel asks even though she knew most schools did.

"We do, they are once a month for the little guys. Parents like to sit in and watch, but the recitals and tournaments will be held on Saturday, and they will cover everything they have learnt that month. It's supposed to be fun, and at the same time they will learn how to control their body, and express themselves through movement. It's also a good place to meet friends, is Beth in school?"

"No she starts in the fall." 'That's a scary thought.' Quinn thinks.

"It is a good idea, you know for her to socialize. I know when I met some of my closes friends in my first dance class." Rachel whispers.

"Well, if there are no more questions, I can give you a quick tour of the place." Brittany stands and leads them out into the main part of the building again. She shows them the dance studio first. "This is where all of your dance classes will be Beth. There is two on the main floor, then a larger one upstairs for the advanced classes." Brittany explains then leads them across towards the karate classrooms. "And this is our blue dragon room. Next door is where they do the more advanced martial arts classes" the last place Brittany shows them, is the upstairs gala. Both Quinn and Rachel are shocked at the sheer size of the room. Unlike downstairs this was one open room. "We can section it off into six separate rooms, but tonight is Salsa night so we open it up for the adults." Brittany explains. "We also have a tango Tuesday if you two are ever interested you two should drop by. It's not really a class just a bunch of people getting together to dance." Brittany says. Brittany leads them back downstairs."Well that's the tour, if there are no further questions I can get you guys some additional information."

"That would be great, thank you Miss Pierce."

"It's Brittany, please," she smiles "and I'll be right back with those papers." Brittany disappears into her office.

"So what do you think?" Rachel asks Quinn.

"It's nice… and the instructor seems to at least know what she's talking about."

"I think she's very nice, what do you think Beth, do you still want to try this now that you've heard what you'll be doing?" Beth nods. "Since when have you ever been shy?" Rachel asks.

"This is the first time I've seen her like this." Quinn says. Usually Beth wasn't shy with new people, in fact, if Quinn hadn't explained she shouldn't talk to strangers unless she's there, Beth would probably talk to anyone. It was strange to see her act shy around Brittany seeing that the woman was so nice.

"Hey, you don't need to worry Beth, I'll be here with you at every class." Rachel says to Beth. Reassuring the blonde. Brittany returns with a packet.

"I also put my card in there so if you do decide to join just call me, and I'll get Beth enrolled as soon as possible." Brittany says.

"Thank you for your time" Quinn says as she picks Beth up and starts towards the door. Rachel hangs back to say goodbye.

"Thank you Miss Pierce I have a feeling you'll be adding another kid to your class by Monday." Rachel says.

"Well, I look forward to it, Beth seems like a great kid. She seems a little shy, but will get her out of her shell."

"That sounds wonderful, well I should probably go. Thank you again for your time. This place is amazing." Rachel says as she goes to leave.

"It was no problem, and don't forget about those adult dance nights. Most couples find it exhilarating, so I'm sure Quinn and you would have a blast." Brittany gives her a wink.

"Oh, but Quinn and I aren't-" Rachel tries to explain.

"Oh, I didn't mean to call you out on it, it's just that you two go so well together. I like seeing parents taking an interest in their child's life, but that doesn't mean you can't take a break from them to enjoy some great music and dance together."

"Rachel, are you coming?" Quinn calls from the doorway. She was holding it open for Rachel.

"Yeah, I'm coming." Rachel says a final goodbye to the dance teacher and catches up to Quinn and Beth. She was a little dazed by the dancers words. 'She thought we were together, and that we made a great couple.' Rachel thinks to herself. Sure, she thought Quinn was beautiful. She glances over at Quinn, who is quietly tapping her fingers against the steering wheel of the car. 'Why would she think we're together?' Rachel wonders to herself. She can't lie, when she first started working for Quinn, she develop a little crush on the beautiful blonde. 'But it was just a crush right? Because it can't be anything more. You do this all the time Rachel, but this is just a normal crush.' she thinks back to when she first started working for Quinn. At first she was so nervous around her. Quinn was just that kind of person the exuberated confidence, which was something that drew Rachel towards the blonde. But now when she looks at Quinn, she sees so much more, and that crush was still there, building ever so slowly day by day. It had become worse now that they were living together. Sure, it's only been a week, but she just feels that pull to get closer to the blonde. 'Do I want it to be more than a crush? No, I can't… Quinn's my boss.'

"Rach, we're home." Quinn looks over at the silent brunette. Rachel practically stared out the window the whole way home. "Hey, are you okay? You've been pretty quiet the whole way home." Quinn asks.

"I'm fine, I just have a lot on my mind." Quinn doesn't look like she's buying it. "Really, I was just thinking about... Beth and the studio."

"It was a nice place and Brittany seems to know how to handle a five year old. Here Beth, grab this bag of groceries." Quinn unstraps Beth and hands her the bag with the Spooky-o's in it. Rachel gets out of the car and helps with the groceries as well. "We can grab the rest of the stuff tomorrow when we start moving you in officially." Quinn says as she makes her way to open the front door. The three of them go inside with their arms full of groceries.

Once the groceries were unpacked, and put away the three of them sit down on the couch. They were exhausted from shopping all afternoon.

"Ug that was fun." Quinn says sarcastically. She shuts her eyes to rest for a bit.

"Mom… mom… mama?"

"Yes, sweetie?" Quinn opens her eyes.

"Today is Friday right?

"It sure is."

"So it's movie and pizza night." Beth explains. Quinn looks over at Rachel, who smiles.

'Pizza does sound good right about now.' She thinks. "Okay… I'll order the pizza and you pick the movie from Netflix." Quinn gets up to grab her phone. Twenty minutes later they were all sitting around the TV eating pizza, drinking beer (minus Beth), and watching Tangled.

"Can I grow my hair that long?" Beth asks with a mouth full of food.

"Beth you have a major case of the pizza face going on right now." Quinn says as she eyes the messy five year old.

"Pizza face?" Rachel raises her eyebrow in confusion. Quinn giggles.

"It's when a five year old gets more pizza on their face than in their mouth." Quinn explains. "Use your napkin Beth."

"Well, in that case she isn't the only one with pizza face." Rachel giggles. Quinn had sauce on the corner of her mouth. Quinn tries to get the stray sauce with her tongue.

"Did I get it?" She asks.

"No its still there." Rachel laughs again. "Here, let me help." She leans over and wipes the food away. As soon as she leans in she finds herself staring at Quinn's pink lips. Instinctively Rachel licks her own. What Rachel didn't know was that Quinn was doing the same thing. "There… all better." She whispers after cleaning away the pizza sauce she looks into Quinn's eyes. 'Okay, when did the room get hotter.' She thinks as she gets lost in warm hazel eyes. She's never noticed how intense they look. Then again, she's never been this close to Quinn before.

"Thanks." Quinn whispers, the room seems to go still. 'I can't kiss her… but she's right there… I should… no, bad Quinn don't do it. But she looks so perfect…. I just want one-' she starts to lean in.

"Ma, look at the horse!" Beth cheers loudly, pulling both Quinn and Rachel out of their little world. "Wow, that horse is amazing." Rachel lays back in her spot as Quinn takes a sip of her beer.

'Oh god I think I almost kissed her. We almost kissed!' Rachel's mind was flying in all different directions. She tries her best to pay attention to the movie, but she kept glancing over at Quinn every five minutes.

Quinn's heart was pounding a mile a minute. ' I can't believe I was going to kiss her. She looks totally freaked out. What was I thinking?'

After the movie was done, Quinn and Rachel attempt to clean up the mess they made in the living room while Beth gets ready for bed. They clumsily bump into each other as they try to avoid getting in the way of one another. It wasn't working very well.

After putting Beth to bed, the two of them stand awkwardly outside Beth's room.

"So I um." Quinn tries to apologize for making Rachel uncomfortable during the movie, but she can't seem to form the right words. So she settles for, "good night Rach." And scampers off to bed, leaving a very confused brunette standing alone in the hallway.

'We almost kiss' was on both of their minds as they fall to sleep.

Tomorrow would be interesting.

End

* * *

><p>Yea, I finished after so many rewrites. I think this one turned out alright. I hope you liked it, and it was worth the wait. Review, and tell me what you think.<p>

Things to look forward to- there will definitely be a side of Brittana coming soon. Beth is also going to be making some new friends, and the Faberry flame will ignite some more.


	7. Chapter 7

A disclaimer-I don't own glee its characters, Dr. Seuss, or Bob Marley.

Author's notes: Thanks for the reviews they were amazing like always. I do take any suggestions or questions if you PM me. All mistakes are my own… I try to find as many as I can.

**Late Morning Lullaby**

* * *

><p>To say Quinn slept well that night was a vast understatement. Her brain seemed to be over thinking today's events, which in term was preventing her from falling to sleep. 'Who was it that said, "You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams" I think it was Doctor Seuss. Is that what's happening to me? Am I falling in love with Rachel?' Quinn thinks as she tries to fall asleep alone in her giant king sized bed. She looks to the left, to the empty space next to her; it was always empty and it never really bothered her until now. She couldn't help but fill in that space with the one person who was sleeping down the hall. If Rachel were here, she could hold her in her arms. 'Wait… Quinn stop. No more thinking about Rachel. Just focus on counting sheep or whatever.' She thinks to herself as she rolls onto her back and stares at the ceiling. Finally, after what seemed like hours of lying in bed, she was able to fall asleep. Unfortunately, her subconscious mind decided to plague her dreams with the one person she was trying to forget. She tossed and turned throughout the night, until about five a.m. when she woke up from yet another dream with Rachel in it. 'This is ridiculous.' She thinks as she stares at the clock next to her, watching the minutes go by. It was the weekend after all, there was no reason she should be up at five a.m... She rolls onto her side and tries to force herself back to sleep. Lying with her eyes closed, she silently wills herself to fall back asleep, but after what seemed like hours with no such luck she opens her eyes and looks at her clock again. 'Five ten… this is such crap.' She thinks. Her mind wanders to the person who was still asleep down the hall in her guest room. 'I wonder if Rachel slept well?' she thinks as she stares at the ceiling of her room. Surely, she had to have slept better than herself, she thinks.<p>

"A person with insomnia could have slept better than me." She grumbles to no one in particular. "Great, this is just fantastic."

Now that she was fully awake, she couldn't help but think back to last night. She had almost kissed Rachel. 'It felt so right.' She thinks as she remembers Rachel leaning into her as she wiped away the pizza sauce from her face. She was sure Rachel had been staring at her lips just before she herself started to lean. The worst part was after Beth had interrupted their moment the room seemed to overfill with tension. She wanted to sleep for as long as possible to avoid that awkwardness she was sure was going to be present.

Looking back at the clock it was now five thirty. Quinn lets out a groan before throwing back the blankets and getting out of bed. There was no use staying in bed if all she was going to do was think about what could have happened yesterday. Instead, she climbs out of her comfy bed, and gets ready for the day.

The shower was amazing, like all morning showers are. She could relax and let her mind go blank as the water drowned out any and all thoughts, trying to pry their way into her mind. She hummed softly to herself as she lathered, rinsed, and repeated.

Stepping out of her shower into her steam filled bathroom, she wraps herself in a big towel. Her fingers find the fogged up mirror. She can't help but draw a smiley face in the condensation before wiping it all away. "God dang." She mutters as she looks at herself in the mirror. It was weird looking into a mirror and seeing yourself. You notice the changes as if they just appeared in front of your eyes.

She leans in, opens her mouth, and sticks out her tongue. "Aaaaah." Quinn can't help but roll her eyes at herself. It was a little too early for her to be acting so lively.

After drying herself off. Quinn steps into her closet, and pulls on her old worn-out blue jeans, and a tattered Yale T-shirt. After getting dressed, she looks back at her alarm clock it was now six thirty. She quickly cleans up her room before venturing into the rest of the house. Per usually she finds herself in the kitchen preparing her morning cup of coffee. Beth had still been sleeping soundly when she snuck past her room and downstairs. She couldn't even bring herself to think about if Rachel was still asleep. Even though she was half tempted to open the door, and peek inside. 'Such a creeper' she thinks as she sips her scalding hot coffee.

After her sixth cup of coffee, Quinn was ready to start her day. She knew they were going to be busy moving in the rest of Rachel's stuff. Not to mention the decorating they were going to do beforehand. It was going to be a long weekend, but in the end, Rachel would be living under the same roof.

A smile graces her face. It made her happy knowing the nanny was going to be here.

Unable to sit still any longer, thanks to the coffee, Quinn decides to go downstairs and start moving her crap into the far back room of the basement.

* * *

><p>Seven forty six, Rachel sits up in bed after hearing what sounded like a knock on her door. She wasn't sure if that's what it was, or if she had dreamed it. She rubs the sleep from her eyes and waits as the door slowly opens.<p>

"Rachel?" A voice whispers to her. "Are you awake?" Rachel can't help but smile as the five year old wild child sticks her head into her room ever so slowly.

Beth didn't want to wake her up if she was still sleeping, so she entered with caution. When she peeks in she notices Rachel is sitting up in her bed.

"Yeah I'm up." Rachel whispers back, she wasn't sure why she was whispering, but oh well. Beth opens the door and dashes into Rachel's room and jumps onto her bed. Rachel notices she barely makes it since the bed is elevated high off the floor. Beth practically has to climb her way into the large bed. The room is filled with laughter. Beth then snuggles under the blanket with Rachel. "What's up wild child?" Rachel asks, she was a little confused as to why the little blonde child was up so early, and why she came to her room before going to her moms.

Beth shrugs. "I couldn't sleep anymore." She says simply.

Rachel quirks her eyebrow. "Really, huh. Neither can I." Rachel says as she starts to tickle the young girls' sides. Beth shrieks and squirms away from Rachel. She almost falls off the bed in her attempt to escape Rachel's attack. Rachel stops once she notices the girl on the edge of the bed. She lets the young girl catch her breath before asking, "Is your mom up?"

"I think she's down stairs, cuz when I went to wake her up so we could watch cartoons, she wasn't there, and her bed was already made." Beth explains.

"Wow… she beat you and me up." 'That's odd.' Rachel thinks. She then jumps out of bed, "that has to be a first," she says with some humor. Beth follows her out of bed. "Well, shall we go see if she's downstairs, maybe she's cooking us breakfast."

"Yea!" Beth says as she grabs Rachel's hand and drags her down stairs leaving a very messing looking bed unmade. The two of them make it into the kitchen half expecting Quinn to be making them pancakes or something, but instead they find the room empty.

Rachel notices the freshly made coffee, so she knew Quinn was up, she just wasn't in this room. 'Where is she?'

"She's not here Rachel." Beth states the obvious.

"I'm sure she's around here somewhere. Why don't you sit down and I'll make you a bowl of farina with some fresh fruit."

Beth's face instantly lights up at the mention of food. She wasn't sure what farina was exactly, but it was soooo yummy. Beth hops up on a breakfast stool to watch Rachel prepare her breakfast.

Rachel moved around the kitchen with ease. She even made banana and strawberry smoothies to go along with the farina.

Five minutes later, Beth was eating a warm bowl of… whatever it was happy. "S'good." Beth's says as she spoons another mouthful into her mouth.

Rachel can help but smile. "It's because of the brown sugar I put in it. Don't tell your mother." She adds. Speaking of Quinn, she still hadn't seen her this morning. Rachel's face falls, normally she enjoyed her morning conversations with Quinn. It was as if she was missing something without her here. "Beth I'm going to go find your mother okay." She says as she grabs her smoothie and walks towards the basement. 'It was the only place she could be without hearing the two of them,' Rachel thinks as she walks down the stairs.

As she opens the basement door, she is taken away by the soft music emitting from the piano in the corner.

Quinn had started moving out some of her stuff out of the main room Rachel was going to be moving into, but after a while she found herself sitting at her white piano playing the first thing that came to her. It so happened to be a piece from Mozart's 12th sonata. She couldn't quite recall the name of it, but for some reason she knew the piece by heart. Quinn didn't notice she had an audience until she heard a loud squeal erupt from the doorway. Beth had snuck down with Rachel to see what her mom was doing. She's never seen her mom play before.

Quinn jumps a little when she hears the five year old's excitement. Her head jerks up from the keys and to the doorway. Beth runs in and practically jumps into her mom.

"We found you mama." She says as she hugs her mom. It was as though the three were playing an ultimate game of hide-and-seek, and Beth had just found her.

"I see that." Quinn says as she tries to regain composure. Rachel walks into the room too. She claps softly, which makes Quinn blush slightly.

"That was amazing Quinn. You can really play." She says. This was the second time she'd heard Quinn play, and she was still amazed at the beautiful sounds Quinn was able to create.

"Thanks… but that really wasn't anything…" Quinn can't find the words. Truthfully, the moment saw Rachel she thought she was going to be overcome with embarrassment like last night. However, as she met the brunette's gaze, she didn't see any sign of awkwardness from Rachel. It was almost as though yesterday hadn't happened. Maybe Rachel had forgotten, or maybe she was just playing it off as if nothing happened. Either way, as soon as Quinn notices this, she relaxes slightly.

"So what are you doing down in my new room." Rachel asks after she notices some of the stuff that had been in the room had been moved somewhere else. 'Quinn must have been cleaning.'

"I have been… getting a jump start on this project of ours." Quinn says, 'and I couldn't sleep anymore because of you, so I had to keep busy somehow.' She thinks the last part. "Well, I started, and then I got kind of distracted." She explains even though it was obvious. She hadn't touched the piano in months, and now she couldn't keep herself from it. It had been screaming to her as soon as she entered the basement. She deduced that it was probably thanks to a certain dream she had the other night. She blushes at the thought.

"Do you need any help?" Rachel asks as she picks up one of the boxes next to the piano. Looking down, she notices that it's filled with odd trinkets, and something that looked like a photo album. "What's this?" She sets down the box and grabs the album from it.

Quinn recognizes it right away. "It's just some old photos." She gets up from the piano and tries to grab it from Rachel.

"Oh no you don't." Rachel avoids her. She keeps the blonde an arm's length away.

"Rachel really… they aren't that amazing or anything. They're just some old photos of me from high school, and college." Quinn explains as she again tries to take the album away from the nanny.

Curiosity was just itching at Rachel. She had this very distinctive image in her head of what Quinn was like in high school, and she wanted to know what she looked like before they'd ever met, and now she had an opportunity to do so. She again avoids Quinn's attempt to grab the book from her.

" I want to see it too!" Beth says as she joins in to try to get the book away from Rachel.

Quinn practically chases the nanny around the basement, before she is able to get a hold of Rachel. It turns out Rachel is more scrappy than she looks. 'It's those damn abs.' Quinn was sure. With her arms around Rachel's waist, she falls to the ground in an attempt to get the book from her. If she had taken the time to really think about what was happening, she might not have put herself in such a compromising position; which was her straddling the brunette's back in an attempt to keep the girl from fleeing with the photo album. She was also tackled by a five year old, and pushed fully on top of Rachel. "Oh my god, what are you an MMA fighter." Rachel laughs from underneath her, as she squirms to get away from Quinn. This probably would have been so much easier if she hadn't been wrestling a five year old at the same time. Finally, after a brief struggle, Quinn manages to get her hands on the book. "Aaahaa." She gleams as she struggles away from the two attackers, though her triumph is short lived due to the frowns she notices on both Rachel and Beth's faces. 'Crap. Well, so much for winning.' She already knows what's about to happen and braces herself for the onslaught.

"But… I want to look at the pictures." Beth says as she pouts.

Quinn can't take it, and gives into the two's pouts. 'It's not fair.' "Fine… we can look at it. Let's just go upstairs okay." Quinn huffs in defeat, but is instantly rewarded with two happy faces. Beth runs up the stairs first, followed by Quinn then Rachel. The three of them all sit down on the couch. Rachel sat on one side while Beth sits on Quinn's lap. "Okay, now what you're about to see is something you will never, ever talk about again." Quinn says all too seriously. She opens the album to the first page.

Right away both Rachel and Beth gasp. The first picture in the album is of a girl with pink hair.

"Is that you!" Rachel asks in utter shock knowing that the young punk rock girl in the photo resembled Quinn perfectly. Quinn can only nod. "Oh my goodness… you have a nose ring." Rachel exclaims.

"That's not you mommy… your hair looks like mine." Beth says as she studies the picture.

"It was a very… confusing time for me okay. I was going through a phase or something." She tries to justify.

"How old are you?" Rachel questions.

"It was… my senior year of high school okay." She breathes out. Rachel can't help but laugh.

Quinn shuts the book.

"Aw come on, it's not that bad." Rachel stops laughing. Quinn gives her a sideways glance. "I guess I shouldn't be laughing. Since I too went through a similar phase." Rachel admits. Quinn was shocked at the confession. The thought of Rachel dressing up like a punk was… well it was weird. "Of course, I went with the Goth look over the bad girl look, and had blue stripes instead of pink." Both Beth and Quinn look surprised. "What?"

Quinn gets lost in thought. She tries to picture Rachel dressed in all black. It wasn't until Rachel slaps her arm that she answers her. "Nothing… I am just trying to picture you with blue hair." She says honestly.

"Well, it was… an interesting part of my life. Sure, I don't miss trying to wipe off that heavy dark eyeliner, but the clothes were fun. I use to wear these black laced gloves, and the principal always avoided me because he thought I was a vampire" She tries to justify.

"Rachel is a vampire?" Beth whispers to herself.

"How long did you dress like a punk?" Rachel changes the subject back to Quinn.

"Um I don't know... Two weeks maybe. I think I went back it normal after my pink hair started to fade. What about you?"

"All of freshmen year, until I decided to join the glee club."

"Glee club?" the words were foreign to her.

"Yeah, show choir. We were just a small group of misfits, and not the most popular kids in school. However, we did win nationals my senior year." She smiles at the memory. Quinn can only imagine Rachel singing on stage.

'Wow' Quinn thinks she then opens the album back up. "Well as short lived as my rebellious stage was it was mostly due to the fact I was kicked off the Cheerleading team. Once I was allowed back on, it was back to Cheerleading uniforms and blonde hair." Quinn flips the page and sure enough, there she was with some friends from school dressed in her Cheerleading outfit. Rachel couldn't help but stare. "I was captain on and off throughout my high school career, and thanks to a homicidally insane Cheerleading coach we won four national championships in a row."

"Wow." Rachel mumbles. Beth flips the next page. Quinn comments on a few of them, however, there was one that really caught her eye. It was of Quinn sitting in a wheel chair at a skate park. "Whoa… is that you too? Are you in a wheelchair?" Quinn runs her fingers over the picture. It was one of those memories she didn't talk about often.

"This was taken a couple weeks after my car accident." She says simply. Rachel gasps.

"You were in a car accident mama?" Beth looks up at her mom worriedly. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine Bethy, It was during my senior year again. I was t-boned at an intersection by a truck," she explains.

"What happened," Rachel asks. "I mean, if you want to talk about it." Quinn thinks about it for a moment.

"Well, I was in a rush to get to the court house for… gosh, I don't even remember why I was in a hurry, and I came to a stop light. I guess I was distracted by one of my friends texting me, normally I never touched my phone while I drove, but I was at a stop light so I didn't think it would hurt just to check, you know. Anyway, the light turned green and I put down my phone and accelerated, then everything went dark. I woke up in the hospital. I was lucky; most survivors probably would have been permanently paralyzed if they'd survived at all. Luckily the doctors said I only severely compressed my spine, and that I would be paralyzed from the waist down until it healed." She exhales. "And while the doctors were optimistic on my recovery, it took me until the end of the school year to even walk."

"Oh my god, Quinn."

"It's fine, really. I mean I'm totally healed, and it was so long ago, I sometimes forget it even happened." She flips the page. "I even danced at my senior prom, see." She shows them the picture of her and her date dancing. "See, that was the first time I tried to do anything without my wheelchair, and I was so worried I was going to fall and I don't know embarrass myself or something. My date was there to keep me upright for one song, thank god." She flips another page. "I even walked across the stage to receive my diploma." She shows them a picture of her shaking what Rachel assumes is the principal's hand while receiving her diploma. "It was a pretty crazy year." Quinn goes to close the book but Rachel stops her.

"Wait a minute, there's still more." Honestly Rachel just wanted to learn more about Quinn. She was already shocked at how much she didn't know about her. Sure, they talked, but it was usually about present stuff. Rachel was now hooked on learning about the blondes past.

"The rest are just of me in college, and being pregnant with this one." Quinn explains. Truthfully, she was a little shy about showing Rachel pictures from her past.

"Please mom, just a couple more." Beth grins up at her.

"Fine." Quinn resumes flipping the pages. There was a couple of her and Santana while they were dating. Beth had asked why she was kissing the weird lady's cheek in one of them. Not wanting to explain in detail about her and Santana's brief relationship, she plays it off as a friendly thing.

Rachel on the other hand doesn't look convinced that the kiss was just friendly. The next couple of pictures were of a man. Rachel hadn't recognized him from pervious photos. He looked like the muscle head with his weird looking Mohawk. "Who's this?" She inquires.

"That's my dad." Beth says with joy. Quinn had obviously talked about the man before.

"Yup, that's Puck." Quinn says.

"Puck?"

"Well Noah, yup after me and Santana daa… anyway Puck and I… we dated on an off throughout college." Quinn finishes. That was a lie, truthfully she never really dated Puck, it was more of a friends with benefits relationship. They used each other throughout college until Quinn got pregnant. However, she never told Beth that, in Beth's mind Puck was a good man, and Quinn wasn't going to say otherwise.

Rachel obviously caught the whole dating Santana thing, but instead of asking more about it, like she wanted to she kept her mouth closed. She also wanted to ask more about Beth's father, but didn't want to say anything that might upset Beth. She wasn't sure if they had a relationship and bringing it up in front of her might not be the best thing.

Quinn can tell Rachel wants to ask more questions, she's relieved that she doesn't. As much as she wants to get close to the nanny, she didn't want to bring up all of her skeletons in front of her daughter.

Quinn quickly flips through the pictures until she is stopped yet again by Rachel. Of course it was a picture of her nine months pregnant. She still can't believe how big she looked considering how small Beth was when she was born.

Rachel can't help but get lost in the picture. 'Quinn looked so…'

"Mama you belly was big!" Beth exclaims.

"Yeah, no thanks to you." She jokes and pokes Beth's side making her giggle.

"Glowing" Rachel gasps to herself.

"Huh?" Quinn looks over at the brunette who was still looking at the picture. "Rachel?"

"Huh… oh sorry I was. It's just that you're so lucky to have pictures like these." Rachel says as she turns the page. "When I was young I always wanted to see pictures of me and my mom, but because I was adopted I didn't get that chance." Rachel gets lost in her past.

"Mom.. What's adopted mean?" Beth asks.

"Um…" she looks at Rachel. Silently asking if it was okay to talk about. "You see sometimes instead of keeping…" she trails off not really sure how to explain it to her daughter.

"Sometimes even though a mommy and daddy love you they can't keep you, so they give you to another family you can give you the love and care you need. So my daddies adopted me and took care of me instead." Rachel explains.

Beth looks confused.

"So does that mean you have two families?"

"Kind of, while I consider my daddies my family, I still have my birth mom, who in some ways is family as well." Beth still looked confused.

Quinn quickly flips the last page, which just happened to be of her holding Beth as a baby.

"Well, that's that, now why don't we get this moving party moving." Quinn says as she puts the photo album on the end table.

"Ok right, I totally forgot we were moving all my stuff in today." Rachel says. "I'll be right back. I need to change quickly, oh we still need to grab the paint from your car." Rachel says before walking towards the stairs. Before Quinn can say she already grab it Rachel was bounding up the stairs.

"Well, we might as well get you change too." Quinn says as she leads Beth upstairs to help pick out an outfit to wear. The two of them were back downstairs before Rachel, so Quinn decided to finish moving the rest of the boxes from the basement. Beth also insisted on helping. It wasn't until they carried the last box into the back that Rachel joined them down stairs. At first, Quinn lets out a small giggle.

Rachel was dressed like… well she looked like a construction worker. She even had a tool belt complete with pink tools around her waist.

"Rachel looks like Bob the builder." Beth says.

"I see that… what are you…"

"Now now Miss Fabray, I've had this outfit in my bag ever since I moved in here, and I am going to wear it while we do all this… construction."

Quinn smiles. "But we're not going to be demolishing anything… we're just painting right?"

"Yes, I know, but I needed an excuse to buy this tool belt so I'm going to wear it." With that said the three of them finish clearing out the basement, minus the white piano. They then lay down a sheet against one of the walls that was going to be painted. Beth was busy playing with Rachel's measuring tape while Rachel and Quinn were prepping the wall for paint.

After finalizing the color they were going to paint the accent wall the two of them start to paint. Beth had wandered back upstairs to watch cartoons. The two of them work in silence, that is until Quinn feels something cold hit her cheek. She looks over at Rachel, who has a shit eating smirk on her face along with a wet paint brush.

Quinn gasps when she realizes what just happened. "You didn't." She exclaims as she runs her fingers over her cheek. Sure enough, there is blue paint on them. Rachel laughs hysterically. "That's not funny." She says as she threatens the brunette with her rolling brush.

"You wouldn't." Rachel dares as she eyes the blue brush. She then runs as soon as Quinn attempts to get her with the paint brush.

Finally, two hours later the one wall is painted, although they seemed to get more paint on each other than the wall.

With the painting done Rachel moves on to the lighting fixtures. While Rachel did that Quinn finished cleaning up the painting materials. She decided to store the rest of the supplies in the garage. Once she enters down stairs two things stick out. One: Rachel was currently attempting to change out the first light fixture using a step ladder, and two: she was too short to actually reach the light without standing on the top tear on her tip toes.

Which is what it look like she was doing.

"Rachel!" Quinn yells, and startles the girl on the ladder.

Rachel loses her balance, and for a moment Quinn thinks the girl is about to fall off the ladder. Out of instinct Quinn quickly attempts to catch her. Luckily Rachel manages to regain her balance before falling. After she was sure she'd steadied herself, she turns and looks at Quinn.

"Probably not a good idea to scare a person when they are currently standing on a ladder, don't you think," she says light heartily. Giving Quinn crap.

"I'm sorry Rach, it's just… you can't be standing on top of a ladder like that. You could fall."

"Clearly," Rachel says with a wink.

"Look you can't even reach. Why don't you come down and I'll switch out the lights." Quinn offers.

"What… no I can do it, and did you just imply I'm short. I am not short, five three is a normal, respectable height." She exclaims as she wobbles on the ladder.

"Would you just come down here please. You are making me nervous up there. Just let me do it." She goes to help Rachel down.

"No, you said you didn't know how to change a fixture, remember."

'Oh right, there was that.' she thinks. "So, you can walk me through it." She justifies.

"Look Quinn I'm fine, really, if you want to help you can hold onto me so I don't fall. But look, I can so reach it if I'm on my tippy toes." She goes to show Quinn.

"Wait!" Quinn says as she grabs the girl's hips to steady her.

"See I can reach." Rachel says as she starts to unscrew the light fixture. "Who knew those Cheerleading skills would come in handy in the real world." Rachel says as she finishes removing the first light. She hands it down to Quinn, who in term hands up the new light.

Quinn was just trying to make sure Rachel didn't fall. The fact that her hands were holding Rachel's hips didn't even register.

'Crap I'm holding her hips.' She finally realizes this. Her grip becomes tighter as she tenses up. Rachel looks down at her to make sure she was okay.

"There… all done." She announces. "Only five more to go."

With that Quinn helps Rachel with the next light. Her thoughts are still on her hands. 'Her hips are nice.' She thinks.

"Quinn?"

"Huh."

"You can let go I'm done with this one." Rachel says.

Quinn blushes. "Right, sorry." She mumbles After they installed the new lights they ventured back upstairs for lunch. Beth decided that they were going to have sandwiches, so that's what they had.

By one thirty Quinn was standing outside the Berry residence with her neighbor's truck and trailer.

"Are you ready?" Rachel asks as they walk up to the front porch. Quinn was a little worried, the last time she talked to the Berry men things got a little heated. "All of my stuff is packed, we just need to move it to the truck."

"Can I help?" Beth asks, taking hold of Rachel's hand.

"Of course, we'll need all the help we can get."

Rachel opens the front door and invites them in. "Dad… Daddy, I'm home." She says as they enter the living room.

"We're upstairs!" A voice calls to them. Rachel leads them up to what used to be her room.

"Hey sweetheart. We were just double checking to make sure we packed everything you needed." Leroy says as they enter Rachel's old room. It was weird to see Rachel's childhood bedroom. Granted, most of the stuff packed away. "Quinn… it's good to see you again."

"You too."

After the quick pleasantries they immediately got to work moving Rachel essentials to the truck. Note to self-bring more people when moving heavy workout equipment. By the time they had all of Rachel stuff loaded up the sun was starting to go down.

Rachel was saying her final goodbyes to her fathers while Quinn was busy strapping Beth into her car seat.

"Are you sure about moving in with her." Hiram asks as he hugs Rachel.

"Yeah, I'm sure dad." There was no doubt in her mind.

"Okay, well… if you ever change your mind pumpkin our door is always open." Hiram says as he gives Rachel on last squeeze. Rachel hugs Leroy next who is practically in tears.

"Dad, it's okay… I'm going to be just fine, plus I'm like ten minutes away so it's not like we won't see each other."

"No… I know. It's just. You know how I get." He wraps his arms around her hugs her close. "I just want you to be happy, and do what you love, and if this is what you love to do then… I'm all for it." He says into her hair. "God it's like you're all grown up now." He says dramatically.

"Dad, I've been twenty two for like four months now." She says. "I've been all grown up for a while now."

"Well to us you will always be out baby girl."

Quinn walks back over to the three of them after starting the truck.

"Mr. Berry's I still want to invite you to our Sunday dinners. My mom keeps calling to remind me to tell you guys." Quinn says.

"It'll be like a family dinner once a week." Hiram says. The two men seem to cheer up instantly.

"Quinn is there any way we can host one of these dinners your mom is so famous for?"

"I don't see why not, maybe we can to a rotation of some sort."

"Aw, this will be fantastic." Leroy says.

"So we'll see you two tomorrow at seven then, at Miss Fabray's house." Rachel says.

After saying one last goodbye Quinn drives them back to her house. They decide to eat dinner before starting to unpack the truck. Not really in the mood to make anything the three of them decided to eat the leftover pizza from yesterday. Quinn's neighbor Mike… or was it Nick. Whoever decided to help them unpack after dinner. Which was a godsend..

'Thank goodness.' Quinn's back appreciated it.

It was always easier to unpack than it was to pack for some reason. Now that all of Rachel's stuff was downstairs in the newly painted basement. They could at least set up the essentials, like Rachel's bed.

"Thanks Mike, for the help and your truck." Quinn calls to her neighbor who was now carrying a six-pack of beer as payment, and some gas money for the truck.

"It's Ike, and no problem." He waves goodbye in his truck and leaves.

Quinn shut the front door and locks it. "Ike… right. I knew that." She mutters to herself as she goes downstairs to help Rachel and Beth put some of her stuff away.

The lighting in the room looks fantastic, and the dark blue accent wall makes the piano stand out more. Rachel and Beth were making her bed for the night. Rachel was insisting that she sleeps downstairs tonight since they were working so hard to get the area set up.

"There that should be good enough for tonight." Rachel finishes some last touches. She still had clothes to put away but they still had all tomorrow to work on that.

"The place looks good." Quinn says as she flops down on the freshly made bed. She was exhausted.

"Yea, I think it looks good too Rachel." Beth says as she crawls onto the bed. The young girl was tired. Quinn looks down at her watch. It was way past Beth's bed time.

"Come here you, it's time for bed." Quinn says as she scoops the sleepy girl into her arms. "I'll see you tomorrow morning Rachel." Quinn says as she's about to leave. Rachel on the other hand starts to follow her.

"Actually, there is one last box upstairs, I should grab before I go to bed." She says as she's about to follow Quinn up stairs.

"Oh, I can grab it for you. Just let me put this one to bed, and I'll be right back down okay."

"That really isn't necessary-" Rachel starts to say.

"Look its fine. You just keep unpacking and I'll grab this last box for you."

"Fine… it's on the far side of the bed." Quinn wasn't taking no for an answer.

Quinn leaves with Beth in her arms. The girl was practically asleep by the time she reached the top of the stairs.

Getting Beth changed and into bed, was a lot harder than it should be, but considering how tired the little girl was it made everything harder.

"Good night little lion." She says as she tucks the girl into her bed. Beth mumbles a Goodnight and grasps her pillow. Quinn leaves the door cracked as she leaves. Walking into the guest room the first thing she notices is the slightly messy bed. 'Rachel must have forgotten to make it this morning.' She thinks as she searches for the last box. Finding it where Rachel had said it would be she grabs it and starts to head for the door. And just as she thought she was clear she trips over the unmade bed. She lands with a hard oomph and manages to dump the stuff out of the box. "Great… just great." She thinks as she looks at the mess. Good thing there wasn't anything breakable in the box. Pulling herself up off the ground, Quinn manages to collect little trinkets Rachel had stashed in the box. Things like her hair brush and hard cover copy of Wicked. There was also a small red notebook with argyle print on the front. 'Rachel would have a book with argyle on it.' She thinks as she flips it open. She regrets instantly doing that. The first words were: **Do not read this unless you are Rachel Barbra Berry.**

It was Rachel's diary, and from the looks of it, it was old. Morally, what Quinn was doing was a big major no no, but then again who kept a diary anymore. Looking at the dates on the first day she realized this was from Rachel's freshman year of high school. She looks at the handwriting and notices most of it was in scripture. Except for the occasional lyrics written in the margins. 'This is so wrong.' She flips a couple pages and stops when she sees a heading that says Get it Right. She briefly looks over at what seemed to be the lyrics to a song, a song Quinn didn't recognize. That's when she realizes Rachel had written them. She kept staring at the chorus. The words seem to haunt her. She could almost hear a slow piano playing as she read the words.

'_What can you do when your good isn't good enough. And all that you touch tumbles down? Cause my best intentions Keep making a mess of things, I just wanna fix it somehow But how many times will it take? Oh, how many times will it take for me to get it right, to get it right?'_

Quinn could almost hear Rachel voice singing the sad lyrics. The girl seemed to be struggling with something at this point. Finally tearing away from the sad song she flips to the last entry. For some reason she had to know. And there it was an entry about her.

'_I don't know what to do, as much as I believe that once in your life, you find someone who can completely turn your world around. You tell them things that you've never shared with another soul and they absorb everything you say and actually want to hear more. You share hopes for the future, dreams that will never come true, goals that were never achieved and the many disappointments life has thrown at you. When something wonderful happens, you can't wait to tell them about it, knowing they will share in your excitement. They are not embarrassed to cry with you when you are hurting or laugh with you when you make a fool of yourself. Never do they hurt your feelings or make you feel like you are not good enough, but rather they build you up and show you the things about yourself that make you special and even beautiful. There is never any pressure, jealousy or competition, but only a quiet calmness when they are around. You can be yourself and not worry about what they will think of you because they love you for who you are. And that's how I'm feeling about Quinn. She inspires me, and at the same time confuses me beyond fathom. I find myself wanting to know more about her and at the same time I'm scared of getting too close. I want to get it right for once, and have that true love you can only find in stories. I know now that it's not just a crush, or admiration, is something more than that. I just don't know how to make it more without putting myself completely out there for her. I want to open my heart, but knowing that it could easily be broken scares me.'_

Quinn stops reading and shuts the notebook. Rachel was falling for her, more so than she thought, but judging from the words she was afraid to make the first move. Quinn quickly grabs the rest of the discarded stuff and puts it in the box. When she enters the basement, she sees Rachel rearranging her night stand with a light and alarm clock. Quinn was staring at the red notebook in the box still. There was a part of her that wanted to fess up and say she read it, and that her words were beautiful, yet at the same time she knew taking that privacy from Rachel would probably hurt her more than make her open up.

"There you are… you found it I see." Rachel points to the box.

"Uh... yeah, it was right where you said it would be." Quinn says as she meets Rachel's gaze.

"Thanks again for helping me today… Quinn?" Rachel notices the distant look on her face. "Are you okay. You look…"

"I'm fine." She hands Rachel the box. "I should go back upstairs…"

"Oh, okay. I'll see you tomorrow morning." Rachel says quietly as she watches Quinn leave.

"Yeah," Quinn goes to leave. "You are, you know." She says, as she reaches the door.

"Huh?"

"Getting it right." Quinn says as she opens the door to the basement and leaves.

Rachel stands frozen for a moment. She wasn't quite sure what Quinn had said, or what it was supposed to mean. That's when she looks down in the box and notices her stuff was placed in there differently. More importantly, she noticed her diary was out of place. 'Get it right.' That's when she realizes what she meant. Quinn is gone before she can put her thoughts together.

It was Rachel's turn to toss and turn all night. As she kept hearing Quinn's words over and over she kept over thinking every outcome of what could happen tomorrow.

End

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><p>Done for now… yeah! So what do you think. It's alright in my opinion, but I'd like to hear yours. Also a special thanks to the guest who mentioned the diary. I liked the idea so I used it, and I think It worked out alright. I also added some things that actually happened in the show, such as punkQuinn and Tina/Rachel because everyone goes through a phase. Tell me what you think.

So what's going to happen at the family dinner… confrontations maybe or confessions? I'm not sure yet, but it should be good.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer- I don't own glee or its characters.

Author's notes: Your reviews where epic as always... I love that a lot of people are looking forward to a little Brittana in this story as well as Faberry followers who are just itching to see what's going to happen. In addition, I'm glad people are enjoying Beth… because truthfully it's hard to write for a five year old… sometimes I think she comes across too old.

As always all mistakes are my own.

**Late Morning Lullaby**

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><p>Rachel's first night in her new room was horrible. When she wasn't tossing and turning, she was wide awake thinking about Quinn. It took everything in her power to not march upstairs at four o'clock in the morning to confront the blonde. Finally, she just decided to get up altogether. Her overactive mind was over analyzing every word Quinn spoke to her.<p>

Sitting up in her bed the first thing she notices is her diary. She had left it sitting next to her while she slept… or had tried to sleep. Looking at its worn pink argyle cover, she felt betrayed, as if the book should've burst into flames as soon as anyone touched it.

A diary can be a simple, mundane object, or your closest friend. They hold the random thoughts of your life, and listen while you divulge your deepest and darkest secrets. Rachel's diary wasn't her most prized possession. She didn't use or even read every day, but it held some of the most important pieces of her past. It recorded the good… and the sad... It held her inspiration, knowledge, and a piece of herself that she didn't share with the outside world. She only trusted her words to the white ply sheets of paper incased inside the pink argyle cover. Rachel was nighty nine percent sure Quinn had read something from it. What or how much, she wasn't sure? Her mind was reeling with questions. Mostly about Quinn. 'What had she seen… she wasn't upstairs long… what if she read the last entry. Oh my god, of course she did, who reads a diary and doesn't read the last entry… ugh…' Rachel tries to justify as she looks down at her lap. "Maybe she only read the title." She says to herself as she opens her diary. 'Get it right.' Three words that have been haunting her ever since her junior year of high school. Three simple words that while separated have very little meaning, but put them together and they tear her apart.

She looks down at the tear stained page. Her fingers play over the words, she hadn't looked back at this song since she wrote it, yet she knew it word for word.

However, the song itself wasn't what brought back the bad memories; it was the inspiration for the song. She thinks back to that day as a voice from her past rings through her mind…

"_You're so frustrating… because you live in this little school girl fantasy of life. Rachel if you keep looking for that happy ending, then you are never gonna get it right."_

It was as if she were reliving that horrible day in high school, then again most days in high school were horrible. Apart from the slushy facials, she was also subjected to verbal attacks from her peers. Her only salvation back then was singing… and her dream to perform on Broadway. Small things like that kept her moving forward, kept her positive and optimistic. To roll with the punches so to speak. However, the day she wrote this song she had finally crumbled from all the negativity around her. It was a the product produced by one too many attacks, and a moment of doubt. It's hard to stay positive when everyone including your friends are tearing you down. It had caused her to break down…

That was how this song was born.

"What have I done…? I wish I could run away from this ship goin' under. Just trying to help, hurt everyone else. Now I feel the weight of the world is on my shoulders…," she all but whispers the lyrics. Fresh tears fall from her eyes, and collect on the page like they had so many years ago. 'It's in the past.' She thinks as she closes the diary. She wipes away the tears. 'Why am I crying anyway… they are just words…'

'_You are, you know…"_ Quinn's voice says to her. _'Getting it right.'_

She smiles, thinking back to yesterday. Quinn had spoken these words to her no more than eight hours ago. 'She said I was so I can... I mean, this song is also a reminder to not give up, right? That no matter how many times you have to try… maybe, just maybe one day you can be happy…' she thinks as she gets out of bed. Looking back at her life, she wasn't the same naive girl from high school. Sure, things in her life have been different from her dreams yet at the same time… there were amazing things in her life that she couldn't live without.

She opens the diary once again, and flips to the last page. Skimming its words, she knew what she had to do. She had to put herself out there… she had to take chances, and she was willing to try that with Quinn even if it cost her a job. Nevertheless, was she willing to risk it for Beth? The little blonde wild child that brought a smile to her face every time she entered a room. Beth, who had given her back that feeling worth living.

'What if Quinn fires me… what if I put myself out there and she says no, what will that do to Beth? Am I being selfish? ' She shakes the negative thoughts from her mind. 'I won't tear myself apart before anything happens.' She thinks. 'What would really change anyway if I started dating Quinn… other than kissing her on her pink full lips…" she can't help but picture the beautiful blonde's lips against hers. They look so soft. "I mean… what else would change?" She can't help but smile. 'This would be difficult yes, but it could work.' She was going to do it… she would confess to Quinn about her feelings, and let the chips fall where they may. The only problem now was… she was pissed at Quinn for reading her diary. "Who does that!?" She thinks aloud as she changes into her workout clothes. Hoping a workout will help vent some frustrations, she quickly hops on the elliptical and starts her vigorous workout to conquer Mount Everest. 'I mean, she didn't have to read it.' Rachel gets lost in thought. 'And then she just left without even telling me she read it. Sure, she implied she did, but still I can't believe she would do something like that.' She pumps the arm grips of the elliptical with impressive speed as the incline continues to climb. 'Then she was all cryptic about it too…' Rachel picks up her pace.

What started as a nice work out ended up being a six and a half mile run with her thinking about the blonde. The machine flashes personal best across its screen. 'She ends her sweaty workout with a nice cool down, taking her time to stretch properly. She hated being sore after a workout, plus stretching always felt good. For some reason Rachel was still irritated with the blonde, the workout only seemed to make her angrier.

Her shower didn't cool her off it only seemed to fuel the flames.

Rachel storms upstairs after her shower ready to confront her new roommate. She needed to lay down some ground rules, one being: do not under any circumstances read her diary, and rule number two: there would be no drinking out of the milk carton. 'That's just not cool either.' However, as soon as she walks into the kitchen all traces of anger melt away.

It was almost like a switch in emotions, one moment she was pissed and was scheming a way to get back at the blonde and the next, she is frozen in her footsteps staring at the most breathtaking person she has ever seen. It all came back to wanting, she wanted Quinn, and she was pretty sure Quinn wanted her as well.

"Good morning Rachel!" Beth calls to Rachel from the living room. However, Rachel's attention was focused on the blonde outside the kitchen window.

Quinn was woken up early (with some help from Beth), and was busy mowing the back yard, or trying to get the lawnmower to work so she could. That was the one bad thing about her amazing house; it came with a large yard. A yard that needed a lot of attention. A lot of Quinn's attention to be exact.

Rachel walks closer to the bay window facing out towards the back yard, and watches Quinn bend over the lawn mower. She wasn't sure what Quinn was doing since she's never mowed, but it looked hot.

'As in the weather.' Rachel thinks as she tries to look away from the window. 'The weather outside looks hot.' The sun was already out in full force. It was a beautiful summer's day. Rachel holds her breath as Quinn lifts up her beater to wipe the sweat from her forehead. 'Oh yeah, I have it bad.' The light morning sun reflects perfectly off Quinn's skin, making her glow as she tries to start the machine. 'Okay, so I'm creeping on her, but it would be a crime if I didn't, I mean seriously, how can anyone expect me to not stare at that beautiful-'

"Rachel?" Beth tugs at her shirt.

"Huh… Oh um, hi Beth?" She draws her eyes away from the older blonde and to the curious looking five year old.

"What are you doing?" Beth asks as she looks out the window. All she sees is her mom kicking the lawn mower… the same thing she did every Sunday when she would attempt to do yard work.

"Oh, um… n-nothing, I was just thinking." Rachel stutters out… 'Thinking about your mom…' Beth gives her a perfectly sculpted eyebrow lift, just like her mom before looking out the window again. Her mom finally manages to start the machine.

"I'm watchin Scooby-Doo, it's the episode… with the black knight. I already know how it ends, but do you want to watch with me? Please!" Beth pleads.

"Um… I really should…" she was going to say finish unpacking, but her words die away as soon as Beth gives her the puppy dog eyes. 'Those should be illegal.' "Okay… but just for a little bit, then I should finish unpacking." Beth immediately grabs her hand and pulls her into the living room.

"Can I help… after cartoons" Beth asks as soon as she pulls Rachel into the living room.

"Of course you can… you're the best helper I know." Rachel smiles when she sees Beth light up with excitement. "Did you already have breakfast?" She asks Beth when a commercial comes on. Beth immediately nods yes.

"Mama made blueberry muffins, and scrambled eggs."

"She did?" Beth nods again. 'Wow, she must have been up early.'

"Yup, and she made bacon… because she always makes bacon on Sundays, and she hadn't had it in a while because she said you didn't like bacon, but she made it anyway… and she like ate the whole thing… but I help too because it's so good. So there's no bacon left, but there should be muffins. Mama said that we couldn't eat all of them since you were still sleeping when she made them." The girl finishes as soon as Scooby-Doo came back on.

"Okay… so that was a yes then." Beth shushes her. "I'm going to get something to eat." Rachel announces as she walks back into the kitchen. She was starving thanks to her vigorous workout. She easily finds the muffins, and warms one up in the microwave. 'Damn these are delicious…' she thinks as soon as she bites into it. 'I knew she could cook.' She devours half of her muffin. She then turns to look out the window to see how far Quinn was in the yard. 'She looks so hot.' Rachel watches Quinn walk across the yard pushing the loud machine. It was then six specific words that came to Rachel's mind. 'I want you to want me.' She starts to hum. "You got to love Cheap Trick."

* * *

><p>Outside, Quinn was about ready to quit… mowing sucked.<p>

"This sucks." Quinn gasps. She was hot and sweaty, and there was grass all over her legs. 'I hate mowing…' she stops the machine. 'A break couldn't hurt.' Truthfully, she was going to try to draw this chore out for as long as possible until they had to go to dinner. Quinn was worried about last night, she wasn't sure what to expect from Rachel... So much had been revealed, yet she also crossed some lines. Rachel had looked so confused when she left the basement last night. She half expected her to come bursting into her room and demand an explanation. She was also scared at the fact Rachel might be mad at her for going through her stuff. She knew it was wrong, but really what could you expect. It was like telling someone not to look, you know they're going to look anyway. It was a reflex… of sorts.

"Hey…" Quinn spins to around as soon as she hears Rachel. Rachel was carrying a tray of lemonade. "You looked thirsty… so I whipped up some raspberry lemonade. It's freshly squeezed." Rachel says with a smile.

Quinn was speechless… literally. Her mouth was completely dry… and god was she thirsty. She drank in Rachel's appearance, Rachel seemed to be okay. She didn't look mad, in fact, she looked breathtaking. She was even smiling ever so slightly. Her eyes were as bright as ever, and the way her hips moved as she got closer was almost too distracting. The way Rachel bit her bottom lip once she stopped in front of Quinn was… delicious.

'You're staring Quinn.' she clears her throat. "Thanks." Her voice squeaks slightly as she grabs a glass from Rachel. She takes a sip of the nice cold drink and immediately feels cooler. 'Damn that quenches the thirst.' She chugs the rest in her glass and gasps as soon as it's empty. Rachel smiles at the action.

"It must be good." She says with a flirtatious tone.

"It hit the right spot that's for sure." Quinn smiles back. Quinn starts to stare again… she couldn't help it though. Rachel was sending out some intense vibes and she was just trying to make sure she was reading them right. There were a thousand things she wanted to say, she just wasn't sure how to tell them. On one hand, she could bring up what happened last night, and on the other hand, she could let Rachel bring up what happen last night. In reality, the ball was in Rachel's court. It was just a matter of time to see what the nanny would do. Or at least she hopes so.

Rachel was eyeing Quinn. 'Maybe coming out here was a mistake.' She thinks as she freezes in her thoughts. A part of her wanted to tackle Quinn to the ground and have her way with her out in the open, she of course wouldn't do that though. Another part of her wanted Quinn to make the first move. 'I mean Quinn technically already knows how I feel… so if she had similar feeling she would make the first move right.' Then of course, there was the feeling of making Quinn chase her… to want her so bad, to crave her. She wanted to tease her until she caved, and that was what she was going to do. "I should get back inside." Rachel grabs the glass from Quinn, her fingers lightly drag across Quinn's.

It takes a moment for Quinn to comprehend what Rachel said. "Yeah, I mean… I'm almost done so I'll be in… um shortly." She already felt thirsty again thanks to the sight of Rachel leaving. 'Well… that was interesting.' She says to herself. Quinn manages to finish her yard just as noon rolled around. She was tired, sweaty, and full of grass.

As she entered the house, she noticed it was quiet. Beth was no longer watching TV, and Rachel wasn't in the kitchen making her lunch. 'They're probably in the basement. Rachel is probably still unpacking.'

Instead of laying on the couch like Quinn wanted to, she goes upstairs to take a nice cold shower. It was just what she needs to cool off and wash away the smell of cut grass. After that, she decides to go and search for her blonde wild child… and see what Rachel was up to. She decided that Rachel either didn't know that she had read her diary or she didn't care since she hadn't brought it up. Plus Rachel seemed to be in a good mood.

The door to the basement was open as she walked downstairs. She could hear the very distinctive tune coming from the piano.

"Like this Bethy… put your fingers here." Rachel's voice says calmly. "Good… now remember what I told you…"

"I'll get it this time." Beth says confidently.

"Okay, ready…" Quinn peeks around the corner of the door just as the notes to twinkle twinkle little star start to play. Inside Rachel's new room Beth was sitting on Rachel's lap as Rachel guided the five year Old's fingers across the correct notes to the song. "Okay and remember, sing from the diaphragm…" Beth nods as she focusses on the keys to the song.

"Twinkle, twinkle little star…" Beth misses a note. "Oops…"

"Its okay sweetie keep going."

"How I wonder what you are… up above the world so high… like a diamond in the sky… Twinkle twinkle little star how I wonder what…. You… AREEEE!" Beth finishes with a high note.

"That was so good Beth."

"But I messed up again." She sounded sad.

"I don't know Beth… Rachel says it sounded good, so she must be right." Quinn walks into the room startling the two of them at the piano.

"Mama! Did you hear me!" Beth jumps from Rachel's lap and rushes to her mom's arms.

"I did, you sounded really good."

"Rachel taught me… but it's really hard to play and sing at the same time, cuz the first time I forgot the words, then the second I forgot the notes… but Rachel's says that it takes time to get really good, and this time I played the wrong key." Beth says all in one breath.

"Well, I agree with Rachel, you sounded amazing. Maybe we should put you in singing lessons instead of dance and karate."

"What… no I want to go to the classes' mom…" Beth whines slightly. "Plus Rachel can teach me to sing… and you can teach me to play the piano… right?"

"She does have a point there… I don't think you could find a better teacher than the two of us." Rachel says as she gets up from the piano and closes the key guard. "I take it the yard work is all done."

"Yup, I finished a little while ago… now all I want to do is relax until we have to go over to my mothers. The room looks good."

Rachel had finished putting away the rest of her belongings, thanks to the help of a blonde wild child.

"Yeah, it looks good."

"I want to live down here with Rachel mama! Her room is so nice and it's twice as big as mine… plus she could get lonely sleeping down here all alone… won't you Rachel."

"I think Rachel will be fine… plus she doesn't need a little bed hog taking up her bed."

Beth pulls away from her mom.

"I wouldn't do that… right Rachel."

"I don't know little lion… I've heard you move a lot in your sleep. Plus, if you sleep down here with me your mommy might get lonely upstairs all by herself."

"She could sleep with you too."

'There's a thought.' Quinn thinks as she chances a glance to Rachel. She can't help but notice her blush a little. She had to look away once Rachel caught her eye. "Well… I'm going to um… fill out that paperwork for those classes…" Quinn retreats back upstairs.

The rest of the day went by slowly. Quinn kept thinking about sleeping in bed with Rachel thanks to Beth's all but innocent words. She, however couldn't get past the sneaky glances Rachel was giving her around the house. They were innocent enough, yet every time she caught the girl's eyes it made her heart speed up. She wanted Rachel to do something… but in the end, she would look away or leave the room. Rachel was starting to confuse her more than ever. She was sure, thanks to the words from her diary that there were feelings there, yet the brunette seemed to be trying to avoid her at all cost.

Thankfully, they would be leaving for her mom's soon. At least there, Rachel wouldn't avoid her.

"Beth... Sweety, you can't wear those shoes with those clothes." Quinn tries to remove the lime green Crocs from her daughter's feet.

"But they're comfortable, and and I want to wear them." Beth pouts.

"But you're wearing a red shirt… you'll look like a Christmas tree."

"I like Christmas." Beth gleams.

"Can you please just where your tennis shoes?"

"But-"

"Beth you should listen to your mom." Rachel says as she walks into the entryway.

She looked amazing with her white flowing dress on.. Her hair was lightly curled and she carried a pair of heals in one hand. Quinn tries her best not to stare… and to close her mouth.

'Stop drooling' she chastises herself. Rachel says something to her, but she is too busy trying to calm herself to focus.

"Quinn?"

"Huh… I'm sorry Rachel I didn't catch that."

"I asked is you could help me with this zipper… the silly thing seems to be stuck." Rachel turns around revealing her bare flawless back. Quinn tries to swallow.

'I need some water.' Her hands tremble. "Yeah, sure…" 'Shoot me now.' She tries her best to still her hands against the zipper. Rachel wasn't wearing a bra that much she knew, she was half tempted to look down the nanny's dress to see if she was going commando as well. Unfortunately, her hands were working faster than her brain. "There, all done." She lightly runs her fingers over the white material. Rachel shivered. "I suddenly feel underdressed." She says when Rachel turns around. Quinn on the other hand was wearing an old Yale shirt with skinny jeans.

"Nonsense you look flawless as usual." Rachel rakes her eyes over her. It was Quinn's turn to blush. "Are we ready?" Rachel asks.

Quinn shakes herself back to reality.

"Yes Rea Rea… but mommy won't let me wear my green Crocs, because I'm wearing red." Beth says offhandedly.

"We should get going." Quinn says in a hurry so the five year old can't slip off her shoes.

Rachel sang to the radio as they drove towards Quinn's mom's house. She kept looking over at Quinn, who was smiling like mad. She then looked back at Beth, who was belting out the words as well. 'Her pitch is off… but she has a great set of lungs.'

* * *

><p>"There they are." Judy greets them as they walk up to her house. "Rachel you look lovely dear, like always." She pulls Rachel into a warm hug. "And there's my favorite grandchild as cute as always. Come here and give your mema a hug." Beth practically jumps into Judy's arms. "Aw, I've missed you so much." She gives Beth a kiss, causing the wild child to squeal. "And Quinn… I see you dressed up for the occasion." She takes in her daughter's appearance.<p>

"Ha-ha… I didn't know family dinners where becoming formal."

"I'm just kidding, my sweet casual daughter." Quinn rolls her eyes. "Anyway supper is almost done… oh and your fathers called and said they would be here shortly so we can start setting the table for them. I made an assortment of homemade vegan pot pies and chicken pot pies. Along with a fresh veggie salad and for dessert I have deep fried banana bread bites with some fresh sorbet."

"That sounds delicious Judy." Rachel Gleams.

'It sounded more than delicious.' Quinn thinks. "Yeah mom, you really out did yourself tonight."

"Oh shush… I'm just happy you two are here… now tell me all about you two moving in with each other." The two of them look at each other. "Come now girls you know, I know you're living together now… so fill me in."

"It's good." Quinn answers with some worry. 'I mean I've only attempted to kiss her like twice now and I read her diary… so all in all it can't be that bad.'

Rachel doesn't put her two cents in, from what Quinn can tell she looked conflicted.

"Just good… come on I need more than that." Judy pries.

"Mom we've literally only officially been living with each other a day… there really isn't much to divulge." Quinn says curtly.

Judy looks disappointed.

"Fine well, I guess we can start setting the table. Can you two handle that… Beth and I are going to go and get the mail…

"Yeah!" Beth squeaks as she grabs a hold of her Grandma's hand and pulls her towards the door.

"Oh, and Quinn don't forget the…"

"Wine opener… yes, I know."

Rachel follows Quinn into the kitchen to help. Quinn finds the wine opener next to the bottle for once.

"What do you need me to do?"

'I could think of a few things…' "Um… the nice plates are in that cupboard. I'll be right back." Quinn grabs the bottle and opener and walks toward the dining room. When she walks back into the kitchen, she notices Rachel struggling to reach the dishes.

Rachel had no problem grabbing the first four dishes, but the last two were on the next shelf up and for the life of her she couldn't reach. She was half tempted to climb onto the counter tops when someone grabs her waist. Her initial reaction was to turn around and see who it was, but then they spoke.

"Need some help?" Quinn whispers lowly in her ear. Her grip was firm as she lifts Rachel two inches off the ground. Just enough for her to reach. Before she knew it, she was back on the ground. She turns to face Quinn, who still hadn't moved from her space.

"Thanks." Rachel breathes out.

Quinn can't help but groan as the breath warms her lips.'Do it… KISS her now!' Quinn leans in to kiss her it was perfect, and now there was no five year old to interrupt them. She could almost taste Rachel on her lips.

Rachel leans her head up slightly wanting to taste those lush lips.

"Quinn, dear can you grab…" Judy walks into the kitchen. Rachel's eyes open. "What's going on here." Quinn hadn't jumped back as one would expect to do. Instead, her body did the other reaction.

Freeze.

"Quinn?"

"Um… got it." She wipes her finger across Rachel's cheek and turns around. "Eyelash... You know how those drive me crazy." She blows on her finger.

"Right… Rachel dear the plates please, I think your fathers just pulled into the driveway so let's get this show on the road, oh and Quinn grab the other wine glasses please."

Rachel is flushed for more than one reason, but she reluctantly grabs the plates and pushes past Quinn to get into the dining room.

"Shit." Quinn groans. There was no escaping that one. They both wanted it. Quinn grabs the other wine glasses… yes, her mom has multiple sets of wine glasses. She walks into the dining room just in time to hear Rachel great her parents at the door.

The Berry men brought their own bottle of wine yet again.

'At least this time they don't seem so angry… or stressed.' Quinn thinks as she eyes the couple from the table.

"Quinn dear come take the wine please." Judy calls to her. "We have quite a meal for you all tonight, so I hope you brought your appetite.

"Oh I bring that with me where ever we go." Hiram says as he pats his belly.

"Daddy." Hiram rolls his eyes at his daughter and grabs Judy's arm to lead her into the dining room.

"It's not my fault my favorite daughter isn't cooking for me anymore." Hiram teases. "I've lost weight."

"I've been away for a week now."

"I know, dear… and I'm not going to lie, we miss your cooking like crazy, but we are enjoying the quiet morning's without the elliptical going full blast." Both the Berry men and Judy laugh.

"Come on girls, let's eat. " Judy calls.

Beth rushes past her mom so she could sit next to Rachel again, which was probably for the best considering the two of them couldn't even meet each other's eyes. Dinner was going to be awkward.

And it was. The conversation was mostly kept between the three older adults and a rambunctious five year old that seemed to have an input for everything.

Rachel and Quinn kept stealing glances at each other from across the table.

"So what's new with my sweet grandchild." Judy asks Beth as they finish their meal.

"Um… oh mommy and Rachel enrolled me in a dance class and I'm also going to be taking karate lessons."

"OH really… doesn't that sound exciting… Well, I'm glad you're trying something new before you start school." Judy says.

"Rachel is going to take me there tomorrow to drop of the… app.. applicctioinn. Whatever that is. She also said that we could watch them so I can see what I'll be doing the next class."

"God she is so precious… you know we still have some of Rachel's old tutu's from when she started dancing… I'll have to drop them off sometime." Leroy says with a smile. "She looked so cute twirling in the living room with them on. Is that okay with you two."

The question was directed at Quinn and Rachel.

"Huh?... Oh yeah, sure… I don't see why not." Quinn says, not really sure what she'd agreed to. She looks across the table at Rachel, who all of a sudden found her plate to be more exciting than her. "Will you excuse me for…" she gets up and walks out of the dining room. It was as if the thermostat in the house was cranked up to an ungodly temperature. She makes her way into the downstairs washroom. The cool water from the sink calmed her and took away the heat. Next, she splashes some water on her face to take care of her beat red face. She looked like she ran a 5 minute mile or something. When she turns around, she almost screams. Rachel was standing with her back against the door. 'The girl was like a ninja.' Quinn takes a step towards her. "Rach I-" before she could finish Rachel's lips were on her's

Quinn was caught off guard for a second… but after her mind caught up to what was happening, she pressed her own lips as softly against Rachel's, letting out a pathetic whimper. Rachel mewled from deep in her throat and wrapped a hand softly around Quinn's neck as the girl pulled her deeper into the kiss, running her tongue softly along Rachel's bottom lip. Rachel moaned and pushed her body into the blonde's softly, completely surrendering herself as Quinn rested a hand on the girl's tiny waistline and protectively covered the girl's body with her own.

Everything stopped except for that kiss. They could only feel their bodies pressed against each other. They could only hear the soft moans and whimpers they were both letting out softly. They only tasted each other's warm lips and they could only smell each other's scent.

When they finally broke apart, they simply stared into each other's eyes, both of them breathing heavily from the weight of the kiss. Quinn couldn't help but smile, it was just what she needed… no more second guessing, no more almost kisses. This had been real. Rachel had kissed her… and she had kissed Rachel.

She leans back down to capture the brunette's lips again.

Knock Knock

The girls jump apart.

"Quinn dear…" Judy's voice forces them apart. "What are you doing in there sweetie, we're about to have dessert.

"I'll be out in a Sec" Quinn was just relieved she was able to talk without her voice cracking.

"Okay dear… but hurry up."

The two of them listen to the retreating sounds of footsteps.

Quinn rests her forehead against Rachel's.

"That was a close one." Rachel breathes.

Quinn nods and then pulls Rachel's lips against her's again. The kiss is shorter this time. Quinn just had to taste her one last time before they rejoined the dinner.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that." Quinn breathes.

Rachel gives her a megawatt smile as she ducks her head in shyness.

"Probably just as long as I have." She all but whispers. "We better go back out there…" Rachel laces her hand with Quinn's and opens the door. The two of them prayed they didn't look like they had been kissing in the bathroom this whole time.

Even though they knew, their parents wouldn't mind… what had just happened between them was something new… and they both silently agreed to see where things went before involving the parentals.

Going back into the dining room the two of them had to drop each others hand, but at least now, all the tension between them was broken. They could now act like civilized human being instead.

The dessert was delicious, and while the two of them stole glances at each other, instead of looking away they would smile… or blush.

The Berry's were the first to leave since they had a slightly longer drive than Quinn. As they left, they of course reminded that the next family dinner would be at their house.

* * *

><p>"We'll see you girls on Sunday!" Judy calls to them as they climb into the Audi shortly after helping Judy clean up. They wanted to get Beth home and in bed as soon as possible, since she was already falling asleep in the back seat.<p>

'It was probably due to the six fried banana pieces she ate for dessert.' Quinn thinks as she watches her daughter's head bob in the rearview mirror. She wouldn't be surprised if Beth got sick during the night from eating so much.

"Tonight was a lot of fun." Rachel whispers across the council. Quinn smiled.

After tucking in a sleeping little lion, Quinn and Rachel go back downstairs. By the time they hit the last stair Rachel had spun to capture Quinn's lips with her own.

Quinn manages to steer them towards the couch before falling down on the couch, and pulling Rachel on top of her.

Quinn groans as the kiss turns into a heated make out session. She runs her hands under the white dress and pulls Rachel flush against her. It had been such a long time since she had felt like this. She almost cries when Rachel pulls away for air.

"You are a very. Good. Kisser." Quinn moans.

"You're not so bad yourself." Rachel kisses her again.

"Mmmnnmm, can I tell you something." Quinn says breathlessly as Rachel pulls away. "I've wanted to do this for a very long time."

"Really?" Rachel smiles down at her. "Me too."

"And now here we are…" Quinn gleams. "And it feels so right, you know."

"I agree… sometimes first kisses can be a little forced, but this just feels right… like I should've been trying to kiss you months ago." Rachel leans back down.

"I want to take you out on a date." Quinn says abruptly. "Like a real date." Rachel's speechless for a moment. "We could, I don't know get to know each other more… even though we know a lot about each other now… I just… I want to know everything about you."

"That sounds amazing Quinn."

"So it's a yes." Quinn looks at her hopefully.

"Yes, Absolutely…"

"Crap… now we're going to need a babysitter… maybe San.' Quinn says almost to herself. "So Friday?"

"Will you pick me up?" Rachel smiles at her joke.

"I won't be late." She looks up at the clock. It was well past eleven thirty, and she had to work tomorrow. "Ugh, I don't want to go to bed."

"Too bad… because I'm not waking myself up to make sure you're awake."

Quinn gasps.

"Fine… Goodnight." She says with one last kiss before they detangled themselves from the couch. Quinn slowly drags her feet towards the stairs as Rachel watches her.

"Oh, and Quinn…" Quinn stops. "Don't read my Diary again." It takes a moment for Quinn to realize she was joking with her.

Quinn can't help but smile. "I promise." Quinn can only imagine what Rachel would write in it tonight.

End

* * *

><p>So took me long enough… I re-wrote it several times, review… right meow (sorry I was watching Super Troopers while writing this) let me know what you think. Half the fun of writing is hearing back from you guys!<p>

Things to look forward to… Beth's first Dance and Karate Class, and Rachel and Quinn's first date. Also, I plan on having Brittana's first meeting in the next chapter, along with a little bit of drama.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer- I don't own glee or its characters.

Thank you all once again for the reviews. To those who have reviewed more than once you guys rock, to those who are first time reviewers, I'm glad you like the story so far. In addition, your patience has been epic, as always… I'm not the best updater, but your patients are well appreciated. I will try to update better in the future, I know how it feels to be waiting for an update since there are so many good pics on this site.

As always all mistakes are my own

**Late Morning Lullaby**

* * *

><p>Quinn had no problem waking up for work the next morning, she couldn't wait to take her shower, she couldn't wait to put on her white suit, and she couldn't wait to rush downstairs to see the lovely brunette who would be busy cooking breakfast for her. So when her alarm went off at five Quinn found herself for once getting out of bed without hitting the snooze button, or waiting for her morning wakeup call. She didn't even enjoy her shower as much as she usually did. Before she knew it, she was fully dressed and was ready to head downstairs, she had cut her morning routine by fifteen minutes, and that was fifteen extra minutes she would get to spend with Rachel.<p>

"There is a first time for everything." She shrugs as she grabs her phone before leaving her bedroom. As she makes her way down the hallway, she can't help but sneak a look into Beth's room. "Oh dear god." Quinn gasps when she sees Beth tangled in her blankets., not to mention the numerous amounts of pillows and stuffed animals thrown around the room.

"Maaamaaa" the sleepy girl whines from the confines of her blankets. "I can't get out… the ooooctttooopusssss has a hold of me." The blonde girl cries out as she struggles against the blankets. Quinn can't help but smile at the helpless and still probably asleep child. She quietly walks in to help the poor sleeping child out.

"Oh baby, what happened?" Quinn coos as she attempts to detangle the girl from her blankets. Beth's eyes were still closed. "Are you still asleep?" she asks as she untangles one of Beth's legs from the sheets. "Christ… you have way too many blankets."

"Careful mama the octopus will get you." Beth groans as she is finally freed from the clutches of her blankets.

"There… no more octopuses." Quinn recovers the sleeping girl and moves to leave.

"Waaaiit, don't leave me." Beth blindly grabs for her mom.

"Beth sweetie… it's still early and you are still asleep."

"I'm not." Beth tries to open her eyes only to have them close once again. "If you leave me the octopuses will get me again." Beth starts to roll over causing her blankets to twist around her.

'Oh dear god… she's too cute.' There would be no use in trying to reason with the still sleeping child. 'She gets that from me.' "Do you want to come downstairs with me?" Beth nods into her pillow. "Okay." there would be no harm in having the girl sleep on the couch until she was fully awake. Quinn quickly scoops the sleeping child into her arms, blankets and all, and carries her downstairs. As she reached the last stair she could hear Rachel in the kitchen, and from the sound of it, she was busy cooking breakfast. Quinn could barely make out the soft light voice coming from the kitchen, it sounded like a better version of I Won't Give Up. Quinn lays the sleeping girl down on the living room couch, making sure the blonde child was completely covered before slowing walking towards the kitchen. She stopped once she saw Rachel, who was currently humming lightly to herself while pulling something out of the oven. She was dressed in her usual attire, jeans, and a sweater, only today she had her hair pinned back loosely. 'I could watch this all day.' Quinn thinks as her eyes follow Rachel's movements around the kitchen.

Rachel turns as soon as she feels someone watching her. Sure enough, there was Quinn, leaning in the doorway. She couldn't help but smile as soon as she saw her.

"Good morning Rachel" Quinn breathes as she saunters further into the kitchen. It takes a moment for Rachel to collect herself before she returns to what she was doing.

"Good morning to you too." Rachel smiles, and sets the food from the oven down on the counter. She then grabs the nearby coffee cup and places it in front of Quinn, who was now sitting in her usual place with her newspaper. "Here you go, one scalding hot cup of coffee."

"Thank you… breakfast smells amazing as usual, what are we having?" Quinn asks as she takes a sip of her coffee.

"Well… I made a plum and blueberry galette." Rachel shrugs as she pulls out another pastry from the oven.

"A what?" Quinn tries to see what exactly the girl had in her hands. Thankfully, Rachel set them down in front of her.

"It's like a baked fruit tart with almond cream. It tastes amazing, trust me." Rachel says as she starts to cut the breakfast pastry. She then lays a piece in front of Quinn, who eyes it suspiciously. "I'm sure you'll like it Quinn. If I had mentioned to my fathers I was making this, they would have been here and eaten the entire thing by now."

Quinn looks at it one more time. 'It does look good, and Rachel has always made me amazing food.' She cuts a small piece and places it in her mouth. "HOTT!" she moves the food around her mouth, trying to cool it, but only burns more of her tongue in the process.

"Careful Quinn, you just saw me take it out of the oven." Finally, she chews and swallows.

"Holy crap that's amazing, and really hot… but damn that's… it's better than a doughnut." Quinn exclaims as she cuts another piece. This time she blows on it before she puts it in her mouth. 'It's still like molten lava' she thinks as she moves it around her mouth. 'But it's so good.'

"Well, I'm glad you approve." Rachel gleams as she grabs her own coffee and takes a sip. She watches as Quinn devours half of her piece. "I've been tinkering with the recipe for a couple of years, but now I think I can finally say it is perfected. Normally I wouldn't be so quick to say it's perfect… since you can always improve on something but-"

"Mmmnnm Rach, you have got to try this." Quinn moans as she interrupts Rachel. Rachel comes face to face with Quinn's fork as she leans over the table offering her a bite. Rachel can't help but hesitate a moment as she eyes the utensil that was just being used by the blonde, before leaning forward to capture it between her lips. She couldn't help but linger longer than she had too before pulling away. "Good right?" Quinn says as she leans back into her seat.

"Mmhmm, it's good." Rachel licks her lips as Quinn takes another bite.

"So… what do you have planned today?" Quinn asks after she swallows her food.

"Well, it's Beth's first day of karate so I'll probably be helping her pick out an outfit for that. We might go to the park if it's nice out too. What about you, anything important planned at work?"

"Just the usual, meetings upon meetings. I should be home relatively early, I want to make it to Beth's first class if possible. That reminds me, I left the paperwork upstairs in my office. Oh, and I somehow have to get Santana to agree to watch Beth on Friday." 'That should be easy.' She thinks sarcastically.

"Why don't we get your mom to watch her that night?" Rachel asks. "Surely Judy wouldn't mind watching her for a few hours."

"I… u-um." Quinn stutters. "I just that I'm, I've… I'm not sure if I should… if we should. It would probably be best if she didn't know we were going out… you know, on a date." Quinn says in a hushed tone as if someone could hear her. Rachel sips her coffee before she looks back at Quinn with some confusion.

"Oh… she doesn't know that you're…" she waves her fork around.

"Um no, I've never really told her." 'Though sometimes I wonder.'

"But what about Santana, you two dated in college, right?" Rachel pulls Quinn from her thoughts.

"Yes… but I played it off as a phase, then you know I got pregnant. I mean… are you? Have you dated a woman before." Quinn stumbles over her words like a teenager in high school.

Rachel looks down at her hands, she picks at her cuticles. "I… I wouldn't call it dating I guess…" she mumbles "It was a little more… complicated than dating."

Rachel wasn't telling her the whole story that much she knew, and as much as she wanted to find out more, she knew that she shouldn't push, since what was happening between the two of them was so new. "I understand Rachel, it seems like it might be hard to talk about… I mean we've known each other for what six, seven months now, and even though I… we've kissed… I'm not expecting you to be so open with me yet, but if you ever want to talk about things, I'm here. "

"I know…" Rachel sniffs back her tears. She really hated crying over this specific subject, but no matter how hard she tried to push past her demons and get over what happened, it somehow slithered its way back into her life. She just wanted to move on with her life.

Quinn reaches across the table, she places her hand on top of Rachel's squeezing it lightly. "I don't want you to be sad so early in the morning." Quinn whispers. "It's far too early for someone so beautiful to be upset." She gives Rachel a small smile, who in return laughs lightly.

"Was that a line?"

"Maybe? ... at least I got you to smile. Can I ask you a question?" Rachel nods. "Does this person have some connection as to why you dropped out of college?" Quinn says in a low voice.

It takes Rachel a moment to collect herself before she nods. "Yes… it does, but I'm not quite ready to talk about it yet… I am happy for what happened to me in some ways, because without them I would have never met Beth and you."

They sat in silence through the rest of breakfast, enjoying each other's company and in some ways each other's comfort. Quinn was actually disappointed when she noticed she had to leave soon. "I should probably get going soon." She finishes off her coffee before making her way towards the front door. Rachel follows behind her, the two of them snuck past the living room couch, and past the sleeping wild child who was fighting of giant sea creatures from the deep. Quinn turns towards Rachel, who hands her a travel mug. "Is it bad that I really want to kiss you right now?" Quinn whispers.

Rachel blushes. "No… I've wanted to do the same thing to you all morning." Quinn starts to lean in to capture Rachel's lips only to be stopped just before they met. "Quinn… I know you are not trying to kiss me before you take me out on a proper date, are you?" Rachel says in a hushed tone.

Quinn wants nothing more than to capture those lips with hers, Rachel's hot breath on her lips was driving her crazy. "But… we've already kissed." She tries to argue, hoping Rachel will give in to temptation.

"I know… and it was a very… very incredible kiss…" she pulls further away from Quinn. "But… If you think, you can kiss me without taking me out on a date first Fabray, you are sadly mistaken." Rachel jokes.

"That's not fair… just one kiss?" Quinn pouts. Rachel can't help but melt a little bit by the older woman's antics. 'Now I know where Beth gets her pout from.'

"Fine… but only if you close your eyes." she gives Quinn a small smile. Quinn quickly looks behind Rachel at the couch where her daughter was sleeping, just to make sure she was still asleep before closing her eyes. It felt like an eternity, then she felt the lightest touch of Rachel's lips against hers. It was over far quicker than Quinn liked. When she opened her eyes, Rachel had already backed a few feet away from her.

"I'll see you later tonight at the Dojo." Rachel says as she retreats back into the house leaving Quinn standing in the doorway.

Monday mornings at the office were the worst ever. Quinn had barely made it through the door before being bombarded with questions from her employees. She held her breath as she passed through the hordes of 'good mornings', and 'how was your weekends?' as she made her way to her office. "Thank god." She closes the door behind her and turns on her lights.

"Quinn!"

"Jesus! Santana what the hell!" the Latina was sitting on the couch already. "You scared the shit… how did you even get in here before me… my door was locked." Quinn makes her way over to her desk and drops her briefcase.

"I made a double of your keys months ago…" she shrugs nonchalantly.

'Well, that's not surprising.' "what can I do for you this early on a Monday morning." Quinn asks as she settles down behind her desk.

"We have got a serious problem Q. Like… seriously serious."

"Really two seriouses' in a row, this must be serious." Quinn jokes.

"Don't mock me Fabray… I'm not afraid to cut that beautiful pale skin of yours." Santana threatens.

"Yeah, so I've been told... so what seems to be so serious that it couldn't wait until after my faculty meeting?"

"I need you to fire your assistant." Santana says flatly.

"Excuse me? Why am I firing my assistant? And please don't say it's because she's following you, or something." Quinn raises her eyebrow.

"Quinn seriously… this chick is crazy and the term is stalking, I'm a victim here… she left me 17 voice messages Quinn… in two days, and most of them are of her breathing into the answering machine for like five minutes. The girl has got to go."

"Santana… I can't fire my assistants every time you sleep with them and then don't call them back. I told you to stay away from her… all of them for that matter, I can't firer her because you want me to get rid of her."

"Fine, then fire her for something else… like all those meetings she missed last week because she was having sex with me in the janitors closet."

"San… stop I'm not firing Amanda… no wait, is it Amanda?" 'Shit, what was her name?' Quinn gets lost for a minute.

"Um… I think that was your last assistant." Santana helps.

"Right she had that red ginger hair…" the light bulb goes off in her head.

"See, you don't even know the girl's name… where's the harm. You get rid of a mediocre assistant, and I get some space from the clinger until she realizes I'm not interested anymore. It's a win win really."

"Santana… I'm not going to fire my assistant."

"Please Quinn… I really need your help here. I'll do anything."

The light bulb went off in Quinn's head again. "Anything?"

"Yes… anything you name it and it's done."

Quinn thinks about it for a moment. "Fine… but I'm not going to fire her… I'll just promote her over to finance, or something."

"Yes, Quinn thank you."

"But… as for my conditions…" Quinn opens a desk drawer and pulls a bunch of files from it. "This is a stack of prescreened assistants that you will go through and interview for me, you will notice they are now all male, since I've been through all of my female applicants. I want you to find me a new assistant by the end of the work day."

"What!" Santana gasps.

"And you will also be babysitting for me on Friday." 'Victory thy name is Quinn.'

"What… no Quinn, that's my clubbing night. Quinn come on, you can't mess with a girl's weekend."

"Those are my conditions, if you don't like it, then you might as well get use to Ashley." Quinn says nonchalantly as she eyes her fingernails.

"Fine, whatever, I'll do it." Santana gets up from the couch and grabs the folders from Quinn.

"There's another thing, I'll need you to pick Beth up from her karate classes that day too."

"Quinn I thought that you had a nanny for a reason… why can't your girl do it for you since it's her job. Unless… Quinn, don't tell me you have a date with that lovely lady on legs." Quinn blushes. "Oh my god you do! When did all of this happen?"

'This weekend… we got her all moved in, and we may have kissed at the Sunday night family dinner… and made out more when we got home."

"No freaking way, Quinn this is great. Finally, you'll get some rid of those sexual frustrations you've had for the last five years. Please tell me you've had some of Berry's berries." Santana crossed fingers

"San!"

Work work work. Quinn had been through several meetings by noon, she had also sent her assistant Ashley to finance, per her and Santana's agreement. She felt bad sending the girl to another department, but Ashley would be getting a raise and hopefully Santana would get some space. 'Speaking of Santana, where the hell is she?' Quinn's office door flies open. "What the hell San… knock please."

Santana tosses the files on the desk. "Okay this is as far as I can narrow this pile of crap down, I can't believe you're going to hire a male assistant… anyway these are the three that I think aren't completely incapable of functioning… Blaine Anderson… short dark and well gay, seems to be able to understand how a coffee machine works, Blondie Mic Fish Lips… is probably your long lost brother from another mother, seems to be able to take the unfathomable amount of shit I threw at him during his interview… also does these very cheesy impressions of famous people. Which I personally thought was terrible but I figured Beth might find them hilarious, and keep her entertained while her mother fucks her nanny in her office when she comes to see you." Quinn hits Santana. "Ow… what the fuck."

"That will never happen."

"Oh please you'll love office sex thrust me it's better that school sex and is right up there with car sex. Anyway, last but not least the foreign guy from England or Ireland, I don't really remember, but he would be a great little follower, I think you could get him to do your work for you if you ask… but those are the only people I think will be of any good, and I promise none of them make my lady junk jump so you will not need to replace them anytime soon."

"Well… maybe I'll have a follow up interview, see how it goes. Thank you. And you'll be happy to know that my late assistant is getting settled on the 44th floor. So I held up my part of the deal. Now all you have to do is deliver the second part of the deal on Friday."

"Yeah, I got it… pick up your devil child from her dance thing, and watch her while you get your sweet lady kisses on with her nanny. So where do you plan on taking Rachel for your date?"

"I'm not sure yet… dinner probably… then I was thinking dancing, or something?"

"You can't dance Quinn. I mean I have seen what you call dancing and I hate to break your white girl's dream, but the sprinkler is not a dignified dance move."

"Well, for your information Santana, the same place that teaches Beth also has a late night dance class that I'm sure could teach me to dance." 'Hopefully.'

"I don't know Quinn… dancing for a first date."

"Why do you think it's too much… what would you do on your first date?"

"Well, dinner is a must… someplace fancy. You guys can have some drinks, talk… then I say keep it simple and take a walk through the park."

"The park… but that's so… so highschool."

"It's a classic… romantic stroll through downtown, come on they write books with that shit."

"I don't know San… maybe."

"Look, I'm not saying that you can't go wild and go dancing, I just think that for your first date you should be trying to get to know her better, not trying to show her you can't dance to save your life."

It was something Quinn would have to think about. Should she go over the top, or keep it simple and calm.

'Thank god it's only Monday. I don't need to make up my mind just yet.'

* * *

><p>Back at home, Rachel was helping Beth get dressed for her lesson, it was her first day of classes, and Beth really wanted to look the part of a karate student. Unfortunately, she hadn't received her actual uniform yet for class, so Rachel was dressing her up as best as she could.<p>

"Then mommy pulled me from the clutches of the, the octopusessss arms." Beth was telling Rachel all about her dream of the sea monster, and how she was saved by her mom.

"Wow, your mom is one brave lady." Rachel helps pull a t-shirt over the girls head.

"Is she going to be able to make it today?" Beth asks.

"She's going to try to make it honey. She really wants to see you do all of those crazy moves." Beth smiles. "You not nervous are you?"

"Um… no." Beth doesn't quite convince Rachel.

"It's okay to be a little nervous. I remember my first dance lesson, I was so excited, but I remember being a little shy meeting the rest of my classmates. However, in the end, I ended making a few friends, and it made dancing a little bit more fun." Rachel finishes dressing Beth. "Well… that should do it until you get your uniform."

"How do I look?" Beth asks as she spins.

"Well… you look like a mini street fighter."

"What?"

"Maybe the bandanna is too much." Rachel mutters.

Beth clung tightly to Rachel's hand as they entered the dancing Dojo. They had gotten there ahead of time so Rachel could turn in Beth's paper work.

"Hey there Beth." Brittany the teacher greets her as they walk into the studio. "I'm glad to see you'll be joining us today." Brittany says in a cheery voice. "The other kids will be so excited to meet you." Beth hides slightly behind Rachel. She wasn't scared of Brittany, she just didn't know very many adults, just her mom, Rachel, grandma, and Rachel's dads… oh and the soup lady.

'But Brittany seems fun, and she liked to smile just as much as me.' Beth thinks as she watches Brittany make her way towards them.

"Hey… Bethy why don't you say hello to Ms. Pierce." Rachel whispers to her.

"Hello Ms. Pierce." Beth whispers.

"Goodness she is so polite for five. But you can call me Brittany from now on. We are going to have so much fun today. It's good to see you again Rachel. I see you brought me the paperwork, I can take that from you, and I'll make sure Beth gets both of her uniforms before you leave today."

"That sounds great."

"So are you ready for your first lesson, Beth." Beth nods. "It's going to be starting soon, why don't I lead you to your class so you can meet some of the other kids." Brittany holds out her hand and waits for Beth to take it.

"What about Rachel… can't she come with me?"

"Oh, I'm sorry sweetie, I can't. But I'll be standing right at the window watching you, okay? Now go have fun, and make some new friends."

Beth lets Brittany lead her into the room with the blue mats. Inside a bunch of children, were busy running around, jumping on the mats, and doing somersaults. Beth was starting to get nervous, she really hasn't met anyone else her age. The kids didn't seem to notice her as she was led into the center of the mat.

"Okay class everyone settle down! Get into your lines!" Brittany yells to catch the attention of the crazy kids. But as soon as she told them to get into their lines, the four students sit down in their respected places. "Thank you class, now before your sensei comes in, I wanted to introduce you all to a new student that will be joining you guys today. This is Beth." The kids eye her up and down. "Beth this is Bradley Anderson." Brittany points to a grumpy looking five year old sitting in the first spot. "This is Bradley's second lesson in karate." Brittany explains.

"Aw man, more girls." He grumbles and folds his arms.

"And sitting next to Bradley is Tommy Cohen Chang-Chang and his twin sister Michelle jr., but they just call her jr. for short. "She points out both of the Asian kids. Beth notices that Tommy seemed shy like her, while jr. waved when she was introduced.

"My daddy wanted to name me after him, but I'm a girl, so my mom named me Michelle jr., even though my dad still calls me mike. " The little Asian girl says loudly.

"And finally this is Adelyn Jones one of our best dancers." Brittany points to the last girl sitting next to Michelle. "Beth will be joining us in both karate and dance so I want you guys to make her feel welcomed. You can take a spot next to Adelyn, Beth."

Beth sits down next to Adelyn, she was still feeling shy.

"Pst Beth…" Adelyn leans closer to Beth. "I like your bandana headband." Beth smiles.

"Thanks." Just then there Sensei walks into the Dojo.

"Okay class, let's get started. I see we have a new student, Beth… let's try and get her caught up by showing her what we learned last time." The teacher says.

Rachel watches the group of uncoordinated kids practicing what looked like a punch. Beth seemed to be enjoying the class, and she even seemed to be making friends.

"They're adorable aren't they?" an Asian woman walks up beside her.

"They are." Rachel agrees.

"Yours must be the little blonde. Mine is the two twins, Michelle, and Tommy." She points out the two Asian kids in the class. Rachel nods. "I'm Tina by the way, Tina Cohen-Chang… Chang." The woman says as she extents her hand.

"Rachel Berry." She shakes Tina's hand.

"It looks like they're getting along, don't they." Inside the Dojo Beth and Michelle, were paired up as they practiced punching a padded bag.

"They do… Beth doesn't know very many kids her age, it'll be good if she makes a few friends before she starts school, she so shy."

"That's the same with my Tommy, takes after me when I was that age. That's why we enrolled him here, so he could make some friends, but he's still pretty quiet. Hopefully he'll take after his dad and come out of his shell, through this or dance. So what do you do when you're not ushering around your daughter to karate class." Tina asks.

"Oh… um Beth isn't my daughter. I use to go to school at Julliard." Tina doesn't seem to grasp what Rachel said.

"No way that's where Brittany and my husband Mike graduated from. What year did you graduate?"

"I actually never finished. I dropped out this last semester, now I look after that little one."

"Aw, that's too bad, I know it's hard getting into a school like that… wait, did you say your last name was Berry?" Rachel nods. "You're not the Rachel Berry that understudied for that off Broadway play of west side story, are you?"

Rachel nods again. "I understudied for Maria, I didn't get very much stage time though, just a couple matinées when the lead came down with the flu." Rachel explains.

"Oh my god, I can't believe it's you. I saw that show, you were amazing, I was actually surprised because I had seen one of the earlier shows with the lead, whatever her name was and then I saw you, and you were amazing, I can't believe that it's you."

"Yeah, it was fun working for the show."

"I thought for sure you would be starring on Broadway by now, your voice is spectacular. Why did you quit?"

"It's complicated… I guess after I dropped out of school, I kind of gave up on Broadway all together."

"That's a pity… I would have loved to see you on stage again. Maybe someday you'll go back to the theater… I mean you're still young."

"Yeah, maybe."

"Did I make it in time?" Quinn bursts through the door to the studio. She had driven well over the speed limit in hopes to see her daughter in her first karate class. Rachel waves her over.

"You didn't miss it, there is still a couple minutes left." She says to Quinn. "Beth is a natural." Inside the kids are wrapping up their lesson.

"Of course she is, she takes after her mom. Look at her, she looks like the karate kid."

"So this is Beth's biological mother?" Tina asks. "You two make a great family."

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, Quinn this is Tina, she's the mother of Tommy and Michelle." Rachel points them out.

"I can't believe you're married to Rachel Berry… did you two meet in college?"

Quinn blushes. "We're… not married." Quinn clears her throat.

"I'm sorry Tina… but I'm actually Beth's nanny."

"Oh, I'm sorry I just assumed that… you guys just seemed so… well anyway… it looks like the class is over, I guess I'll see you on Wednesday, maybe we can talk more about Broadway." Tina walks away.

"Is it weird that so many people think we're together?" Quinn asks after Tina leaves.

"I guess that's what most people assume when they see us together. Is that a bad thing?"

"No… but I haven't even got to take you out yet. So what was this about Broadway?"

"Well, Tina recognized me in an off Broadway play, that's where she remembered me from." Rachel explains.

"You were in a play? Which one?"

"West side story. I was only an understudy, but I did get some stage time, Tina and her husband had just been lucky enough to see me, I dropped out of college after that. It was my first and last major production I did."

"Rachel…" Quinn really wants to talk more about it, but she is then embraced by Beth.

"MAMMA! Rachel! Did you see, did you see how good I was."

"We did, you were fantastic for your first day." Rachel says. Quinn pulls Beth into her arms.

"I can't wait until Wednesday. Adelyn says that she is going to show me all of her dance moves, and Michelle says Tommy is really good at dancing. I'm so excited… are you going to be able to see me on Wednesday to mama?"

"I'm going to try sweetie… but even if I can't be home early enough, you can always show me what you learned at home."

"Quinn, I'm so glad you could make it." Brittany walks up behind them. "Your daughter, I hear did very well today, and even made some new friends, right Beth." Beth shakes her head yes.

"I like Michelle because she said her favorite color is orange and so is mine, and Adelyn said she was going to show me all her dance moves on Wednesday. Tommy is really nice too… but he's really quiet, and Bradley is the best in our karate class. I can't wait until Wednesday!"

"So you've said." Quinn squeezes her daughter.

"Mom… stop… that tickles." Beth says in between breaths.

Quinn puts her daughter back down on the floor. "Oh Ms. Pierce… since you're here I just wanted to inform you that on Friday, a friend of mine will be picking up Beth from karate."

"Oh really?"

"Her name is Santana, she's going to be watching Beth Friday night for us."

"What, you're making the soup lady watch me? Why… where are you going! Why can't I go with you? Why isn't Rachel picking me up? Rachel where are you going to be? You're not getting rid of Rachel, are you mom?"

"What no sweetie, of course not… I'm we're just. Aunty Santy is going to watch you for a little while, that's all… we can talk about it later honey. I just wanted to give you a heads up." she says to Brittany.

"Oh, that's alright, thanks for letting me know. So what does this person look like just so I know Beth isn't being abducted."

"Oh she… you'll know her when you see her… she'll be the one grumbling about having to be here. Beth knows her too."

"She always brings strange women to my birthday parties." Beth says in a serious tone, Brittany can't help but laugh.

"Right, well we should be going. Say goodbye to Ms. Pierce." Beth wave's goodbye as Quinn leads her out the door.

* * *

><p>The next couple of days were hell on both Rachel and Quinn; Quinn was busy with work, her new assistant Sam was finally trained. The guy was nice, yet seemed out of place in the office. Quinn was just happy she wouldn't have to get a new assistant any time soon. Santana on the other hand seemed to be as sexual frustrated as she was. Now that the fling with Quinn's old assistant was over, the Latina actually had to focus on work to keep her mind off of other things. Wednesday Beth had her first dance class at the studio, unfortunately, Quinn wasn't able to make on time to see her dance. Luckily, both Rachel and Beth were able to recreate the dance lesson that night at home. Who knew Beth actually inherited some form of coordination. Quinn didn't think she was that coordinated when she was five, it took her years to become coordinated enough to even try out for Cheerleading, she was lucky she even made captain her junior year, if it wasn't for her coach she would have been the bottom of the pyramid forever. Finally, Friday came along. Quinn still wasn't one hundred percent sure what she was going to do for her first date with Rachel. All she had was reservations for a vegetarian restaurant in the city, but after that, she was coming up empty handed. Santana tried to bounce ideas off of her throughout the week, but in the end, it just made it harder to decide what to do. Honestly, she hadn't been on a date since before Beth, and this was the first time she actually had to plan the date out herself.<p>

"You'll be fine Quinn, trust me." Santana reassures her as she gets ready for her date at her office. The plan was to pick Rachel up from the studio and drops Santana off so she could drive Beth home after her karate class was over.

"I'm just a little nervous… it's been a while since I've gone out with anyone. I just want everything to go smoothly." Quinn pulls at her clothing.

"Like I said Quinn everything is going to be perfect… I mean, sure if things go badly you may need to get a new nanny but there is like a 75 percent chance everything will go fine. Just be yourself… it's not like it's a blind date or anything, you two have known each other for months now."

"Yeah yeah, so you keep reminding me. Well are you ready to go?"

"I can't believe you're making me babysit on a Friday." Santana grumbles.

Rachel was just as nervous as Quinn. Her morning had been hectic as she stresses over what to wear. Beth had been no help considering she didn't know why Rachel was dressing up. She settled for a black mid-thigh high dress, with a simple pair of heels.

"You look pretty Rachel… where are you and mama going?"

"Just out to dinner."

"Can I go?"

"Oh, um not this time."

"But why…"

"Why don't we get you ready for class… you get to see your friends again today isn't that exciting." Rachel changes the subject.

Rachel felt like she was sticking out at the studio, she seemed far too dressed up compared to the other mom's.

"Wow Rachel you'll look fabulous today." Brittany says when she sees her. "Are you going out or something?"

"I have a date… with Quinn." Brittany lights up. Even though Rachel didn't know Brittany very well, over the last week the two of them seem to be becoming friends. It was kind of hard not to since Brittany was one of the sweetest people Rachel had ever met. They had a lot in common it turns out.

"I knew there was something going on between you two." Brittany gleams. "Is this why you're having her aunt pick her up today?"

"Yeah, Santana kind of got volun-told to. We have reservations at seven, I'm not sure where though. She wouldn't tell me"

"That's the best part of dates… the unknown. I'm sure she has a wonderful night planned out for you, Quinn seems like the type that goes above and beyond on dates."

"This is actually her first date since she had Beth… mine too, since I've dropped out of school."

"Wow… this is going to be interesting." Brittany seems a little too excited.

"I'm so nervous." Just as Rachel was about to say something else Santana walks into the studio. She looks grumpy as she walks into the lounge.

"Hey nanny, your blonde is waittt…" Santana stutters as she sees the woman standing next to Rachel. "Holy shit."

"Santana." Rachel greets her. Santana on the other hand can't take her eyes off of Brittany.

"Hey…" she pulls her eyes away from Brittany to acknowledge Rachel. "Quinnie's outside waiting for you." she murmurs as she looks back at Brittany.

"You must be the aunt."

"San-Santana." She stutters.

"It's nice to meet you… I'm Brittany… Beth's dance teacher." Brittany holds out her hand to greet Santana.

"Here Santana."

"Huh?" Santana wasn't aware Rachel was talking to her.

"I said, here are the keys to my Volkswagen… make sure you buckle Beth in the back car seat…"Santana stops her.

"Yeah, the blonde had been preaching everything to me the whole way here… the things that I do for that girl."

"You must be a very nice friend." Brittany says. Santana can't help but smile and nod.

"Okay… well, I'll see you later then."

"Yeah… bye."

Rachel shrugs and heads towards the door. Leaving Santana behind with Brittany. 'This could be interesting.'

"So Santana…"

Outside, Rachel is greeted by Quinn.

"Hey… there you are, I was about ready to come inside to get you.'"

"Did you think I was standing you up?" Rachel asks with a smirk.

"God, I hope not, you look lovely by the way."

"Thank you… you look fantastic too. You knew you had something besides your Yale sweatshirt in your closet." Rachel jokes.

"I save that for formal dinners. Are you ready?" she opens the passenger door for Rachel.

"Yes."

They found themselves in one of the busiest vegetarian restaurants in New York City.

"I can't believe you got us in here, I always wanted to try this place when I was in college, but you need to book a month in advance… and have more money than a college student has."

"Well, lucky for you I know someone who works here… and he was able to get us a nice table." Sure enough, they were escorted to the quietest part of the restaurant, away from the main body of tables, which was nice considering it was such a rare phenomenon to have privacy in the city.

"Is there anything I can start you two out with." The waitress asks after they've been seated.

"Two glasses of your Château Guiraud wine, please."

"Excellent choice… I'll be back with your drinks and give you two some time to look over the menus, we have excellent smoked hummus tonight as our special."

"Thank you Bridgette." Quinn reads the girls name tag.

"I still can't believe you got us into Candel 79."Rachel whispers across the table after the waitress left. "I think I'm going to get the butternut squash ravioli" Rachel says as she reads the menu.

"That sounds delicious" Quinn says as she reads the menu, sure, she wasn't a vegetarian, but some of the food did sound amazing on the menu.

"Here you two go." The waitress sets down the glasses of wine on their table. "Do you two need a minute to decide or are you ready to order."

"I think we are ready. I will have the zucchini enchiladas and she will have the butternut squash ravioli." Quinn orders for Rachel.

"I'll get your order in right away."

Rachel takes a sip of her wine and cringes slightly.

"You okay?"

"Yeah… it's a little strong." Quinn takes a sip of hers and smiles.

"I forget you don't drink often."

"Yeah, I've pretty much accepted that I'm a light weight when it comes to alcohol. The first time I ever even tried alcohol was in high school at a glee party, I pretty much got plastered off of two wine coolers." Rachel says.

Quinn tries not to laugh, but fails. "Really?"

"Yeah… turns out I'm also a clingy drunk, according to the lead male vocalist of our group, ever since then I've tried not to over indulge."

"Tell me more about this glee club. I guess I really don't understand what you do."

"It's basically show choir, we sing and dance. I was co-captain and lead vocalist all four years of high school."

"I wish I could have seen you sing… on stage I mean. I know you can sing like no other, but I guess I would want to see you up on stage with all those lights on you, to see you really shine. Do you ever miss it?"

"Some days… It's all that runs through my head, just that overall need to perform. But then there are days that, I don't know, it's almost like I can't even see myself on stage." Rachel shrugs. "I don't know… what about you, what made you want to become an editor?"

"I actually didn't want to be an editor… I wanted to write."

"Really?"

"Yeah… but then I got pregnant with Beth and I settled for finding something that would provide for her, and here I am five years later."

"Would you ever try to write a book someday?"

"Yeah, maybe… would you ever consider going back to Broadway." Rachel shrugs.

"I don't know… maybe. I should start with finishing school first."

Their food comes. It looks amazing and smells even better. Rachel is a little envious at how well the food looks, but her jealously is slowly forgotten as she takes her first bite of ravioli. The two of them get lost in conversation, good food, and great wine. It wasn't at all weird to be having dinner with Rachel. In fact, Quinn was feeling strangely comfortable. Maybe it was due to the wine.

"Can you please tell me where you're taking me." Rachel whines as they leave the restaurant.

"Nope, I've been thinking very hard about where to take you all week, now you're just going to have to wait and find out." Ten minutes late Quinn pulls up outside a small bar.

"Quinn… really. Karaoke bar? Isn't that like too 1990's"

"It's the only way I could think of getting you to sing for me again. Plus they even have a mini stage."

"You are so…" Rachel searches for the words.

"Thoughtful?" Quinn supplies.

"I was going to say cheesy." Quinn leads them inside.

"Hey now… if it makes you feel better I'll be the first to sing."

"Well, this is sounding slightly better."

"But then you have to… okay."

"Fine."

Before Quinn requests her first song, she orders herself a drink for her and Rachel, two diet cokes. She had to drive home after this. The crowd clapped for her as she walked up on stage.

"Hey… my names Quinn… I don't sing very often, but here it goes…" the music starts to play "Hey baby won't you look my way, I can be your new addiction. Hey, baby what you gotta say? All you're giving me is fiction. I'm a sorry sucker and this happens all the time I found out that everybody talks everybody talks, everybody talks. It started with a whisper, and that was when I kissed her, and then she made my lips hurt. I could hear the chitchat. Take me to your love shack Mamas always gotta backtrack. When everybody talks back." Quinn's voice may not be the best for this song, but she gave it her all as she finished the final verse. She was actually surprised at how many people clapped for her when she finished. However, her eyes were on Rachel, who was standing in the back smiling. "Thank you." she bows before rushing off stage and letting the next singer on to take a stab at some Brittany spears song. "So how was that." Quinn asks as she sits down next to Rachel at their table.

"It was surprisingly good, a few off notes… but very energetic." Rachel says into Quinn's ear so she could be heard over the current singer's voice.

"Why thank you, so what are you going to sing… Adele… pink?"

"It's a surprise…" Rachel walks up on stage after the Brittany spears singer leaves. "Hello everyone, I'm Rachel Berry and I'll be singing a song I think everyone in here can relate to, so enjoy…" Quinn is shocked when she recognizes the song just by the beginning chords. "We could just go home right now. Or maybe we could stick around for just one more drink, oh yeah. Get another bottle out, lets shoot the shit, sit back down for just one more drink, oh yeah." The crowd raises their glasses. "Here's to us. Here's to love. All the times that we fucked up. Here's to you. Fill the glass Cause the last few days have kicked my ass. So let's give em hell wish everybody well. Here's to us. Here's to us." Rachel's voice gets the crowd on their feet as they sing along to the song. "Stuck it out this far together put our dreams through the shredder let's toast cause things got better, and everything could change like that, and all these years go by so fast, but nothing lasts forever. Here's to us. Here's to love. All the times that we messed up. Here's to you fill the glass, cause the last few nights have kicked my ass If they give you hell tell em to go fuck themselves. Here's to us. Here's to us Here's to all that we kissed, And to all that we missed To the biggest mistakes That we just wouldn't trade To us breaking up Without us breaking down To whatever's come our way. Here's to us Here's to love All the times That we fucked up Here's to you Fill the glass. Cause the last few days Have kicked my ass So let's give em hell Wish everybody well Here's to us Here's to love All the times That we messed up Here's to you Fill the glass Cause the last few nights Have kicked my ass If they give you hell Tell em to go fuck themselves!"

"Go fuck themselves" the bar crowd answers back. Rachel pretty much stole the show, she got a round of applause and a request to sing another song right after. She sang 'don't you want me baby.' Quinn couldn't stop smiling, Rachel looked so happy on stage, by the time she returned to their table she was exhausted.

"I feel very sorry for whoever has to go on after you." Quinn whispers into Rachel's ear. Rachel couldn't help but smile. "You are amazing."

"Thank you." they leave after two more songs. "That was surprisingly fun."

"Who knew you liked karaoke so much." Quinn joked.

"I know, who could have possibly guessed that I Rachel Berry would have fun singing." She says sarcastically.

"I'm glad you had fun, truthfully, I was a little worried you wouldn't want to go up there."

"I was kind of nervous… but when I stepped up on that small stage… and I don't know… it felt good. Better than when I sang in college. I don't know, it's hard to describe."

Quinn reaches for Rachel's hand and gives it a squeeze, before interlacing their fingers and leading her back towards the car. They stopped for frozen yogurt on their way home to sum up their date. But the time they pulled into the driveway, it was already midnight. Quinn shuts off the ignition.

"This is kind of weird." She says as she opens her door and walks around to open Rachel's door.

"What is?"

"Just, normally you wouldn't expect to invite your date inside on the first date." Quinn swats her.

"You're not going to get lucky talking like that." Rachel jokes back. Quinn stops Rachel before she can open the front door. "Quinn?" Rachel gives Quinn a look of confusion. 'Maybe I took that last joke too far.' But before she could say, anything Quinn's lips were on hers. Quinn pulled Rachel into her as she ran her fingers through Rachel's hair. The kiss seems to slow down as their lips move against one another. Rachel moaned when she felt Quinn's tongue enter her mouth. 'Damn.' Finally, they pull away from each other just far enough to catch their breaths. Quinn's eyes were still latched onto Rachel's lips, which were slightly swollen from the kiss. "You're not supposed to kiss on the first date." Rachel whispers

"I've been wanting to do that all week." Quinn whispers back.

"Aren't you going to invite me in?" with that Quinn opens the door. Inside they are met with a silent house. Beth was staying with Santana tonight and would be back first thing in the morning, so the two of them had the house to themselves. "Tonight has been amazing."

"Would it be weird if I invited you upstairs." Quinn says as she takes off her shoes. Rachel turns around and looks at Quinn questionably. "Oh… no, not like that… it just, like you said tonight has been amazing, and I don't want it to end, and it's weird that we'll both be here but you'll be downstairs. I just thought that maybe you would want to sleep upstairs… with me…"

"Quinn…"

"Unless you feel uncomfortable… it was just a thought." Rachel gives her a light kiss.

"Let me go get my pajamas." Rachel rushes off downstairs to grab her pajamas. By the time Quinn is undressed and in her bed, Rachel knocks on her door.

"Yeah?"

Rachel peeks her head in, she notices Quinn is already in bed. "I just wanted to make sure you weren't naked or something." Rachel was dressed in a silk nighty. She crawls into bed with Quinn. It wasn't until her legs brushed up against Quinn's did she remember that Quinn didn't wear pajama pants to bed. This of course made Rachel hot In more than one way. Quinn rolls over and shuts off the lamp. They lay there in silence for what feels like ten minutes. Rachel swears Quinn can hear her heart beating, it sounds so loud.

"Rachel?" Quinn cuts through the silence.

"Hum." Rachel rolls over to face Quinn, who had been staring at her the whole time.

"Will you please tell me why you left college." Rachel rolls back on her back and stares at the ceiling. At first, Quinn thinks Rachel isn't going to tell her, since she had been staring at the ceiling for a while now.

Rachel clears her throat. "Her name was Cassie… or Cassandra July. I however had to call her Ms. July. She was my teacher." Rachel takes a breath. "When I was a freshman, I had the biggest crush on her… I had taken an introductory course with her, and that's how I developed my crush. I of course never told her… I was just a scrawny freshman… barely out of high school, and she was the epitome of everything I wanted to achieve. When I was a sophomore I took a dance class with her… she somehow found out that I had a crush on her and kind of made my life a living hell. She called me Schwimmer… it didn't really bother me though, she was like that with all of her students. Then one day I stay late to practice the routine she had taught that day, and she came in. At first she seemed surprised, and I thought she was going to yell at me to get out, but she started flirting with me. From there I don't know, things changed. When I was in class she treated me like I was nothing… but when I was alone with her, she would tell me everything I ever wanted to hear from her, that I was going to be a star, that I would be on Broadway, that I was beautiful. " Rachel sniffs back her tears. "And it was those words that got me through everything she put me through. I guess in the end you could say she seduced me to sleep with her… but the next semester I was there whenever she called, to do whatever she needed, but it was okay because I thought she loved me. Then when summer vacation came, I landed a role in the off Broadway production of west side story… I was an understudy, but when I found out I would get to do a show, I invited Cassie to it. I sang every song perfectly, and nailed every dance routine, I pushed myself as hard as I could for her, and she left half away through 'a boy like that'. After the show I texted her asking her why she left… she didn't answer me back, I tried for days but she cut me from her life. When school started back up I thought maybe she would at least talk to me. When I went to her office, I accidentally walked in on her with another student… he was an upperclassman in his last year but, after that, everything just fell apart. She finally cornered me one day and told me that I was terrible as Maria, and if I had any respect for the stage I would give up and go home. That's when I realized I didn't want to sing anymore… at least not in the theater, if that's what I would become. I knew Broadway was competitive, I had accepted that there would always be someone better than me, and in order to make it, I would have to fight to get a part, but I didn't know you had to lose all sense of humanity to do it. I didn't want to become like that, to lose myself, I wanted to be on Broadway because I was the best, not because I fucked the director or stabbed a friend in the back. I didn't want to become Ms. July. So I quit, and left half way through the semester."

"Rachel…"

"No its fine really Quinn, even though Cassie ruined everything I believed in, she did give me you… and Beth."

"But you could have both… you can't let some bitch teacher control you like that. She stole your dream from you… but it's not too late to get it back."

"I know… and truthfully tonight helped me see that… maybe I'm not done with music… I'm just not ready to go back yet." Quinn wipes the tears from Rachel's eyes.

"Thank you for telling me."

"You are the first person I have. I feel lighter for some reason." Rachel whispers. Quinn leans closer and kisses her.

"I'm glad you told me."

Quinn wakes up expecting to find a beautiful woman sleeping next to her. The night before they had talked and kissed until they fell asleep. However, instead of finding a brunette sleeping next her, she finds an empty made bed. Quinn quickly jumps out of bed, pulls on her robe, and walks downstairs to find Rachel making blueberry pancakes. Rachel turns around when she hears Quinn.

"Good morning."

"Good morning." They say to each other.

"I made breakfast… I'm guessing Santana is going to be here soon, so I made a lot." Rachel lays a plate down with five pancakes for Quinn.

"I thought you would still be asleep when I woke up this morning."

"I was up at 630, but I decided to let you sleep… we were up past two talking."

"And kissing."

"And kissing" Rachel repeats. "I thought you would be hungry." Quinn makes her way around the breakfast bar and pulls Rachel towards her.

"I think I'll wait until Beth gets here to eat. In the meantime, I think I can find something to keep me distracted." She kisses Rachel.

"You can't stop doing that, can you?"

"Kissing you… no. I think I'm addicted." Quinn leans down to kiss her again, only to be interrupted by the doorbell. "Ugh, perfect timing Santana. Might as well set the table, I'll go answer the door." Quinn walks to the front door. "You couldn't give me five more minut… Puck?"

End… for now

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><p>Here it is… review and let me know what you think. I know it's been far too long, I've been working on my other fics that haven't been updated as well in forever, but I thought I could finish this chapter for you all since it was pretty much done.<p>

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving… hopefully you guys have a nice holiday and find time to review, even if it's to yell at me for taking so long to update ;)


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer-** I don't own glee or its characters.

Thank you all once again for the reviews. To those who have reviewed more than once you guys rock, to those who are first time reviewers, I'm glad you like the story so far. I had a hard time writing this chapter so bear with me as I struggle through it.

As always all mistakes are my own

**Late Morning Lullaby**

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><p>"Holy shit… Quinn." Quinn's mouth hangs open as she takes in the one person she never expected to be standing on her front door step… holding a tool box none the less.<p>

"Puck?" it takes her a moment to pull herself out of the strange denial her brain was trying to push through. 'What in the world. This isn't happening, this can't be real. The man in front of me is not who I think it is.' She shakes her head. "What the hell are you doing here." sure it probably wasn't the best choice of words for this situation, but what else was she supposed to say… 'hey Puck nice to see you, what brings you to these parts, oh and by the way where have you been the last five years. I don't know if you remember, but I was pregnant when you left so… oh but it's so nice to see you.' yeah, that wasn't going to work, not when she was trying so hard not to punch I'm in his smug little face. 'Breathe Quinn, focus on breathing and not the overwhelming urge to smash his junk with your knee.' Quinn lets out her breath, she can't help but notice Puck seems just as surprised to see her. Stunned even. "Well!" She makes Puck jump.

"Oh… I'm here to fix your downstairs basement." That sounded a little suggestive.

"Excuse me?" Quinn takes a step forward, right into Puck's personal space.

Puck pulls out a sheet of paper from his pocket. "The invoice says you're looking to remodel your basement bathroom… I'm supposed to give you an estimate." Puck says quietly… which is so not like Puck, or at least the Puck Quinn remembered. "I can't believe this is happening, the invoice says Rachel Berry, I swear." He shows her the paper, and sure enough Rachel's name was printed on the bottom of the paper.

"Hey Quinn, does Santana need some help with Beth!" Rachel calls from the kitchen.

"You named her Beth?"

"Puck you can't be here… you need to go." Quinn tries to push him off the front step.

"Wait can't we talk about this."

"What's there to talk about other than you're a class A jerk that walked out on me when you knocked me up. I think I've heard that story one too many times. You made your decision to leave Puck… don't expect me to welcome you back into my life after five years."

"That's not what I… look I know whatever I say isn't going to change anything, but I should at least get a chance to explain." Puck tries only to be cut off by Quinn.

"I don't care… I don't need or even want your explanations!" Quinn practically yells in his face.

"Quinn is everything all right out here?" Rachel walks into the foyer expecting to see Santana and Quinn, but instead she sees a tall man dressed in what looked like a plumber's uniform. At first glance the guy looks like your run of the mill handy man. 'He looks familiar, though… like I've seen him somewhere.' She thinks. That's when it hits her. The man standing on their stoop was Noah Puckerman, Beth's father and Quinn ex. "Oh… I um… thought it was… never mind, I'll just… I'm going to be in…" she trails off as she turns around and walks back into the kitchen.

"I see your new girl knows who I am. She's cute… I mean I'm glad you found a girl…."

"Puck… please… I need you to leave now. I can't do this with you." she tries to shut the door on him but is blocked.

"Wait, please Quinn, I realize this is a shock. I really wasn't expecting to show up here on your doorstep, not that it's a bad thing, but please can't we talk… or something… maybe." He tries again.

"Look Puck I don't know what you could possibly want to talk about."

"You know exactly what I want to talk about…" Quinn then sees a black Volkswagen pulling into her driveway, no doubt it was Santana dropping off Beth. Puck turns when he notices the car too. "Is that Santana… wow, I never thought I would see her again. Wait… is that…" you could just barely see Beth's ragged blonde hair from the car window.

Santana notices the man straight away. "Shit, Beth I'll be right back. Here play with aunt Sanny's iPhone… just don't call anyone." she says as she exits the car. "What the hell is he doing here!"

"He was just leaving… weren't you Puck." Quinn says, trying to get Puck to move towards the plumber's van parked on the street. The sight of the angry Latina could make any sane man leave.

"You're damn right he was just leaving." Santana sneers making Puck inch away in the process.

"Wait here… take my card, just in case you change your mind and want to talk." Puck hands Quinn his business card only to be snatched away from Santana and crumpled.

"She's good, but thanks… now leave before I's ends you." Puck throws his hands up in surrender and backs away from the overly protective Latina, and Quinn.

"Good riddance." They watch Puck drive away in his plumber's van. "Now that the dramas over… go get your demonic spawn out of Rachel's car, and there better be some sort of breakfast ready inside, because I'm starving." Quinn isn't surprised, she could only imagine what she went through last night while babysitting… Beth could be a hand full.

Inside the car Beth quietly played with Santana's phone, Quinn had to knock on the window just to get the girls attention from the wicked game of angry birds the five year old was playing. Beth however, was so excited to see her mom that she drops the phone on the floor.

"Whoa there…" Quinn opens the door. "Some one's excited to see me." She picks up Santana's phone and puts it in her pocket, before unbuckling the excited five year old from her car seat.

"MAAAMA!" Beth practically jumps in her arms as soon as she's free from the confines of the seat.

"Good morning baby… how was your night at Santana's?"

She rolls her eyes. "Santana is Cray Cray."

"Excuse me? Please tell me I did not just hear you say Cray Cray… what else did Santana say while you were staying with her."

Beth shrugs. " We just talked about misses Pierce mostly. Can we go inside, it's freezing out here… and I wantz to get my grub on."

'Great, now my kid has been corrupted by Santana. No more sleepovers.' Quinn thinks as she quickly caries Beth inside. Sure the morning had started off rocky, compared to last night it was utter emotional chaos, but fortunately for Quinn, she could at least still enjoy some nice blueberry pancakes for breakfast. 'Pancakes are exactly what I need right now.' When they walk into the kitchen they see Santana is already helping herself to a plate full of pancakes and bacon… 'wait when did she make bacon.'

"Took you long enough… damn these pancakes are the bomb. Seriously Q whoever taught that girl how to cook should be given a medal of some sort. Hey, you know what we should do, we should enroll her on iron chef or something… it could be the midget against Bobby Flay or Cat Cora… that would be insanity."

"Whoa, I've never seen you say so many words this early in the morning. Speaking of Rachel…"

"Oh right… well she pretty much said that she already ate so she was going to go down stairs or something… she said some other things too… all I remember was 'help yourself to the food' and then I pretty much stopped listening to her after that." Quinn sits Beth down in her chair and dishes her some pancakes with syrup. "So… what was all of that about this morning with the you know who." Santana asks in between bites.

"I really don't think now's the best time to talk about that." Quinn mumbles as she serves herself while sadly eyeing her daughter who seemed oblivious to the conversation happening around her.

"Well... I think we should talk about it... but you're the boss." Santana drops the subject, at least for now.

"So how was your class yesterday, did you learn anything cool?" Quinn asks Beth, who was busy munching down on her food.

"Our teacher says we need to learn more discipline, since Bradley challenged Junior to a fight, and then she pulled his hair. Sensei says there is no hair pulling in Karate, even though she won, and made Bradley cry."

"Man that's just like a girl... pulling someone's hair..." Santana smirks into her coffee.

"I'm sure your fighting style is similar, Santana."

"I don't think so Quinn, since my mom taught me how to fight."

"Let me guess, that's the whole razor blades in the hair thing." Quinn gives Santana a smirk.

"Damn right... and I've never lost."

"So what else did you guys do last night." Quinn asks curiously.

"Well other than finding out your child is the reincarnation of the devil?"

"I'm pretty sure that position has already been filled." Quinn says with a smirk.

"It's not funny Quinn your child is insane."

"Oh come on she can't be that bad."

_Flashback._

_Slowly the creature makes its way through the unfamiliar jungle, seeking out the evil Soup lady that thought it was okay to put mushrooms on the pizza last night. Surely everyone knows the only good pizza is pepperoni... or extra cheese, but the Soup lady insisted that the fungus wasn't going to kill the little lion. She was wrong, and now the wild creature was going to get its revenge. Quietly I sneak towards it slumbering chamber and am met with a horrible snoring sound as it nestled deep in its nest. Creep closer. The monster has no idea I'm here. Now is the time to attack. "BANZAI!"_

_"What the Fuck!"_

Present

"She said a bad word mommy."

"Santana please tell me you didn't swear in front of my child."

"Quinn, she jumped on my head... out of nowhere! Like I was a freaking Gazelle or something... I have the bite marks to prove it." Santana tries to justify.

"Beth please tell me you did not bite Santana."

"She had to be punished... mushrooms should not be on pizza."

"Oh my god... pick them off! Yo, you know what I'm done with this crazy! I will see you at the office, Quinn." Santana gets up from the table and storms towards the front door. "And don't think I'm done talking about what happened this morning... And I'm taking your Car since mine is still at the office!" with that the front door closes.

"Mama... are you mad that I bit Aunty San?" Beth asks.

"Well... no honey, I'm not mad... but don't bite her anymore." She tries not to laugh.

"Fine... I won't."

"Are you all done eating sweetie?"

"Yup, I couldn't eat another bite if I tried. Can I go upstairs to play now?"

"Of course sweetie... I'll be right up after I put the leftovers away."

"Hey mommy, where's Rachel?"

"She's in her room."

"Why?"

"Well..." 'I have no idea.' "I'm not entirely sure sweetie, but it's her day off so why don't we let her have some space."

"Okay... but later I need to tell her all about karate class."

"We'll see sweetie." Quinn quickly puts the remainder of the food away. After which she stands at the top of the stairs wanting nothing more than to go downstairs and see what Rachel was up to. She decides against it in the end. 'Surely Rachel needed space for some reason.' Quinn tries to justify. In the end Quinn decides to give Rachel her space, and goes upstairs to play with Beth. The day proceeded like any other Saturday in the Fabray family household, including their mid afternoon nap on the couch. However, as the day was slowly coming to the end Quinn started to get worried. Rachel hadn't been upstairs at all since the incident this morning.

"Mom... can I go downstairs to see Rachel?" Beth asks.

"Sure baby... just make sure you knock on her door and ask if it's okay too."

"Okay..." Beth takes off down the stairs to the basement.

It was lonely upstairs by herself, and even though every part of her was telling her to go downstairs to see what her two girls were doing, she stayed in the kitchen and started reheating dinner. 'Her two girls?' it was a weird thought, but Quinn couldn't help but wish it were true... she wanted to call Rachel her's.

"Hey mama... is dinner ready?" Beth made her way back upstairs after a while.

"It sure is... is Rachel coming up?"

"She said she needed to finish what she was doing first."

"Right... well, let's eat then." the two of them sat down at the large dining table and ate their reheated food from the previous night. It was quieter than usual, the house seemed... larger for some reason. "Don't play with your food little lion." Beth nods and quickly tries to finish the rest of her meal without picking at the asparagus with her fingers, which was hard considering they were so slimy. After dinner Rachel had still not emerged from the confines of the basement, so the two Fabray's decided to hunker down on the couch to watch the Lorax. 'Dr. Seuss is a genius.' Quinn thinks.

After Beth had fallen to sleep, Quinn took her upstairs and tucked her into bed. She then made her way back down in order to shut down the TV that was still on. Today went by incredibly slow, even though it was similar to most of her weekends at home, however there was something that was missing. Something that she was missing. 'Rachel.' the nanny had been eluding her the entire day, and it had finally gotten to Quinn. Sure, they were new to being 'roommates' if you will, but the girl hadn't even come upstairs to eat. So Quinn broke... she needed to see her, especially since they hadn't talked since this morning. Quinn quickly walked down the stairs and is met with the soft, smooth voice of Rachel singing. This slows her down a little since she didn't want to startle Rachel by bursting through the door one hundred miles an hour, instead she opened it just enough to hear the nanny's voice start to sing.

"Dreams, I have dreams when I'm awake when I'm asleep, and you, you are in my dreams you're underneath my skin, how am I so weak?" Rachel's voice doesn't sound like she normally does, she isn't belting the lyrics of the song nor does it seem to get any louder than the guitar itself. Quinn opens the door more so she could see Rachel sitting on the piano bench facing away from her. "How long, can you hold your breath? Can you count to ten, can you let it pass? Keep, can you keep it in? Keep it behind latches, can you make it last?" Rachel was having a hard time even getting through the lyrics... she could almost feel the tears forming in her eyes as she tried desperately to lose herself in the song. "And now in my dreams, I can feel the way, I can just come clean. I keep it to myself, I know what it means I can't have you, but I have dreams Oh, and I have dreams, I have dreams..." Quinn walks fully into the room.

"Rachel?" her voice startles Rachel enough to stop her from finishing the song. Rachel turns to see Quinn standing in the doorway of her room looking, for lack of a better word miserable.

"Quinn... sorry... I didn't... hear you come down the stairs."

"Rachel... what's wrong, why were you singing that song?"

"I don't know Quinn... it just came to me." Quinn closes the space between them.

"Please don't lie to me... you have been down here all day, you haven't eaten, and you don't sing songs like that unless something's wrong. So just tell me... because I have had far too much mind fucking for one day." Quinn says.

"You know why... Quinn that was Beth's Father on your front door step!"

"I know!"

"It's just... I was just... it's like the moment I feel any sort of happiness in my life the universe decides to throw a curve ball and crush everything around me..."

"Rachel... stop. What happened this morning with Puck wasn't the universe fucking with you... Puck isn't here to I don't know sweep me off my feet... there is no way he could."

"But he's Beth's father..."

"Who left me alone while I was pregnant with her!" Quinn has to take a deep breath to calm herself down. "Look Puck, can't have me, because I'm already involved with someone else." Quinn grabs Rachel's hands.

"Quinn..."

"No... it's still my time to talk. Puck helped create Beth... but that's all. He wasn't there to hold back my hair when I was throwing up, he wasn't there when I was craving bacon flavored ice cream... which is nearly impossible to find by the way... and he wasn't there when I had her."

"Neither was I." Rachel says in a low voice.

"No... your right... you weren't either... but you were there when she lost her first tooth... you were there for her first dance and karate classes... and when she made her first friends... you've been there more than a single mom could ask for. And I don't want to freak you out... but I don't see any other person taking that position anytime soon. I want you to be there for her first day of school, her first dance recital, and I want you to be there with me not as Beth's nanny, but something more."

"Quinn..."

"I like you Rachel... and I'm not going to force you to give up your dreams... or cut you from my life because an old ex-shows up on our doorstep to start renovations in the basement."

"Our door step?"

"You do live here right." Quinn says with a smile.

"I do."

"Good... now can you please tell me why you were down here all day?"

"I was just... confused I guess. When I saw him... I just got sucked back to college and Cassie..." Rachel sits down on her bed. "That image kind of started to consume me. That and I couldn't help but feel like you needed your space. I mean, I can't even imagine what I would be thinking if that ever happened to me."

"Is it weird that I was doing the same thing?" Quinn sits down next to her.

"Really?"

"Yeah... when Santana said you went down stairs, I just felt like you would come up when you were ready to be around us... but I ended up cracking at the end... obviously."

"I'm glad you did... I like you too Quinn. You make me feel almost like my old self again..." Quinn's lips are on her before she can even finish. "I like that..." Rachel breathes.

"What my lips." Quinn says with a smirk.

"Yes... and that we are ending the day like we started."

"Ah... your right... we were rudely interrupted early this morning weren't we?" Quinn leans in to capture the girl's lips again.

"What are you going to do about Puck?" the name is like a bucket of ice being dumped over her head.

"Well... I haven't really thought about it... he says that he wants to talk, but... I'm just not ready to do that yet."

"You're not worried he wants you back?"

"No... I'm not." she kisses Rachel again. "Come stay in my room with me tonight." Rachel smirked.

"I don't know Quinn..."

"Please... you can't want to sleep down here all by yourself."

"Well, it is my room... and what if Beth wakes up and comes in to see us sleeping together."

"Um... we say we were having a sleepover... come on." Quinn pulls Rachel to her feet.

"Fine... but you have to keep your hands to yourself miss Fabray." Rachel allows Quinn to pull her upstairs after she changed into her pajamas. Everything seemed to fall into place slowly, even after all the drama they had been through over the last couple of hours, but now the two of them could relax, similar to how they did last night.

Quinn couldn't help but smile as she wrapped her arms around Rachel as soon as she was in bed. "This could become a problem..." Rachel says as she rolls over to face Quinn.

"I'm sorry I just can't keep my hands off of you."

"No, not that... the fact that you aren't wearing pajama pants... again."

"You've never complained before."

"I'm not complaining... in fact it use to take me immense control those couple of times I helped you out of those pants."

"Oh shit I totally forgot about that." Quinn blushes. "You must have thought I was some insane single mother-"

"Nonsense, I thought you were a hard driven single mother who works herself in the bone for one of the greatest kids I have ever met... who also isn't shy to undress in front of me when she's had a couple glasses of wine." they both laugh at that.

"I just don't like wearing them... ever since I was little, my mom said she used to put me to sleep in those feety pajamas at night and when she would come to wake me, I was completely buck naked... I guess I've never grown out of it." Rachel can't help but rub against those ever so smooth legs.

" Thought you said no funny business." it was Rachel who closed the distance this time between them to capture the blonde's lips with her own.

"I may have lied." Rachel's smirks as she reconnects their lips.

Before they knew it Rachel was on top of Quinn, somehow her pajama top had gotten thrown across the room, not that Quinn was complaining since her hands seemed perfectly happy as they travels across the nanny's body. 'This has to be heaven.' Quinn moans as Rachel bites her bottom lip before pulling away completely. "Too fast?" Quinn pants. Rachel nods.

"Yeah... no..." she places a light kiss on Quinn's lips again. "It might be a little fast... that and now that my mind is starting to catch up with my body, I realize that Beth is just down the hall. You don't think she can hear us..." Quinn laughs.

"No... that girl could sleep through anything... well, anything but thunderstorms." Rachel rolls off of Quinn. She stares intently at the ceiling.

"Quinn... you don't think we're moving too fast?"

"No... I think we're moving at a very comfortable pace... even though there are some moments I can't help but want to rip your clothes off." Rachel smiles and buries her face into Quinn's shoulder. "What... it's true. You're too much of a temptation to me, I find myself having to make sure I don't touch you constantly." to almost prove a point her fingers start to explore the brunette's body.

"So we're like dating right?" Rachel breaks the silence.

"Well... we do go on dates, and I don't plan on seeing anyone else. So yes, as long as you comfortable with it, I would say where dating... is that something you're okay with?" Quinn asks.

"It sounds fantastic actually... but I um... how long do you want to hide us from your family." Quinn has to take a moment to think about what Rachel was asking her. Things would only get complicated if they tried to hide themselves from the people around them, and then there was another problem.

"Rachel... I don't want to hide you... I know I said I wanted to wait before announcing us, but these last few days made me realize that you shouldn't be hidden. So tomorrow, if you're comfortable I would be okay with telling my mom about us... and your dads as well... and Beth too. Not that I think that will be a problem for her, since she already sees you as part of the family. If that's okay with you.'

"It sounds perfect... I mean they should know that we're seeing each other... and taking things slowly. That being said... tomorrow... I think I'm going to finally tell my fathers about why I left college." Quinn wraps her arms around Rachel and pulls her in tighter.

"I think that's a good idea. Now that we vented... I think we should go to sleep." Rachel nods and rolls onto her side facing the wall.

"I call little spoon" Rachel says as she muffles a yawn.

It was a nice feeling having that person filling that empty space next to her. Quinn had been alone for so long... having Rachel next to her was like a dream come true. It was like everything was happening so quickly, but at the same time she felt she was at the right place. Like all roads were leading her to... Rachel.

"Good night Quinn."

"Night Rach."

Sunday

Quietly the little lion stalks through the unforgiving jungle... that's right jungle... because that's where this lion lives. Anyway... now that I thankfully defeated the evil fungus serving soup lady I decide it's time to prowl the jungle to stalk any unsuspecting creatures that I might come across. Then I hear it, the light breath coming from the lion Quinn's cave. That's my mom... slowly I make my way into her cave, she never realizes I'm here as I sneak in on her as she sleeps. Closer and closer... "ROAR!" Beth jumps on the unsuspecting lump underneath the blanket only to be almost thrown off the bed.

"OH Holy! Moses!" Rachel sits up quickly. She looks around for the intruder half expecting it to be Quinn playing a joke on her only to find herself face to face with Beth. "Jeepers... Beth you scared... the Sh- shiitake right out of me." Rachel recovers.

"Rachel?"

"Hey Rachel, are you up..." Quinn walks into the room in only a towel. "I thought I heard you scream... Beth..."

"Mommy, why is Rachel in your bed?"

'Oh, this wasn't going to be awkward... nope.' Quinn pulls the towel tighter around her body. "Um... Rachel."

"We... were having a sleep over."

"Right... sometimes friends sleep over in each other's beds..." Quinn tries to sound convincing... it didn't seem to be working considering Beth was still eyeing the two of them up.

"Why doesn't Rachel have a shirt on?"

"Oh... um..."

"I was... I got hot last night... you know what... it looks like your mom needs some privacy... why don't you and I go downstairs and start breakfast while she gets dressed." Rachel recovers as she rolls off the bed and recovers her shirt, trying her best to stay calm and while at the same time button herself.

"Okay." Beth says after a moment before crawling off the bed and grabbing hold of Rachel's hand.

Rachel gives Quinn a worried look as she left the room. 'Well, that could have been handled better.' Quinn thinks as she tries to get dressed as quickly as possible. Sure, she was going to tell Beth about Rachel... but not when she was half naked.

As she walks down the stairs, she can hear the two light voices coming from the kitchen. She can't help but smile as she sees the two of them cooking together. Beth was concentrating hard at cutting the bananas with her butter knife as Rachel supervised and stirred what looked like oatmeal on the stove.

"Am I doing this right?"

"Yup, just like that, just make sure you keep this hand away from the knife." she repositions Beth's hand.

"Mama, look I'm helping Rachel cook breakfast." Beth says when she sees her mom lurking in the doorway.

"I see... your Rachel's little helper this morning... so what is for breakfast anyway?" Quinn asks as she starts moving around the kitchen to get the plates from the cupboard along with the freshly squeezed juice and a bowl of freshly sliced fruit.

"We are having banana cream pie oatmeal. It's almost done."

"You are going to be the death of me." Quinn whispers into Rachel's ear, as she pulls Rachel into her for a moment. She moves away just as quickly earning a warning glance from Rachel, who obviously was a little worried about being too affectionate in front of Beth... however the little blonde girl didn't seem to notice their interaction.

Rachel was just itching to tell Beth about Quinn and her, even though she really didn't know how a five year old would understand or react. Growing up with two dads' she really was never told that they were together... she just knew. I mean it was obvious since they loved each other and they had loved her just as much. So she never needed to be told, because love was love.

"Mom, can I have a sleepover sometime?" Beth asks as they ate their breakfast together.

"Sure honey... who would be invited to this sleep over."

"Well... Michelle and Adelyn from dance class... and Tommy too, even though he's so quiet."

"Ooo, there would be boys at this sleep over." Rachel tries to read Quinn's face.

"I thought boys were yucky."

"They are... but Tommy is nice... he doesn't talk much and unlike Bradley he doesn't try to fight. So can I?"

"Well... maybe. Well see, we'll need to talk to their parents a little more before this can happen, and if they can't stay over maybe we can just have a play day... since you only see them every other day. But I think you should invite Bradley too."

"Aw mom."

"Just imagine if they all played together and didn't invite you... how would you feel?" Rachel chips in.

"Okay... Bradley can come too... I guess."

"Good... but like I said we'll have to talk to all their parents first. Which also reminds me, we need to go school shopping soon."

"Gosh, my dads were right... they grow up so fast."

"Speaking of fathers, we're having dinner there tonight, right?"

"Oh yes... they've been texting me on and off this last week about dinner. They're very excited... they like using the good silverware every now and again." Rachel says.

After breakfast Rachel helps Beth get ready for the day as Quinn cleans up their breakfast mess. Once the house was back into order and both Rachel and Beth were dressed for the day, Quinn thought it was time to sit Beth down, and try to explain her and Rachel's new relationship.

"Mom, can we go to the park before we have to go to Rachel's daddy's house?"

"Sure sweetie... but before that I need to talk to you about something." she made sure to sit Beth on her lap so she could hold her child while she explained. "Beth... I need to talk to you about Rachel."

"Is Rachel moving out again?"

"What no, of course not... Rachel isn't going anywhere... that's what I'm trying to talk to you about."

"Okay good, because I would miss her if she left."

"I would too sweetie, I know she would miss you too." Rachel was sitting next to them on the couch as they spoke. Quinn tries her best to explain how she felt about Rachel to the five year old. Sure, it was confusing to the little blonde but Rachel tried her best to compare it to her own fathers.

"So you see Beth, it all comes down to how you feel in the end." of course the five year old was confused.

"So you and Rachel kiss? Like on the lips?" Rachel blushes.

"Um... Yeah. Are you okay with that?"

Beth thinks about it. "Yup... Rachel makes you happy. She's your lobster." Beth shrugs.

'Okay, no more friends for you' Quinn thinks. "Yes, I guess you could say that."

"Can we go to the park now?" Beth jumps from Quinn's lap.

"Sure, go get your coat." Beth takes off to get her coat.

"Well, that went surprisingly well... then again, she's fives so... I mean, how much do you think she understood." Quinn breaths

"I think she gets it... lobster." Rachel smiles.

While at the park the three of them spent the majority of their time on the swings. Those where Beth's favorite besides the monkey bars. Quinn found herself unable to stop herself from smiling. Her cheeks were actually starting to hurt from the smiling, but what could you say... she was happy. No, she was very happy. Her favorite part was the spontaneous game of tag that broke out between the three of them, which ended in a fit of laughter as she scooped up the five year old and tickled her into tears. After the park the three of them when home to change for their family night dinner at the Berry's. Rachel received a text to dress formal, which was a good enough excuse to pull on one of her favorite cocktail dresses that would surely get Quinn's attention. She wasn't, however expecting to have her breath taken away when she saw the blonde coming down the stairs in a beautiful champagne colored dress.

"I thought for sure you would wear your Yale shirt." Rachel murmurs as she tries her best to take her eyes away from Quinn. Which she found out was impossible.

"You look amazing Rachel."

"You stole the words right from my mouth."

"What about me?" Beth was the next to come down the stairs. She was wearing a multicolored Tutu with zebra tights, and a pink shirt.

"Wow... someone... dressed themselves lovely." Rachel laughs slightly. "You look amazing Beth. Stunning actually."

"Yeah... mom said I could pick out whatever I wanted as long as I wore a skirt or a dress..." Beth explained. "You look pretty Rachel, " she finished.

"Why thank you Beth."

"Shall we ladies." Quinn pulled their attention back to her as she motioned them towards the door.

By the time they arrived at the Berry's residence they see Judy's car already in the driveway.

"Looks like we're late." Quinn says as she throws her car into park.

"Yes, but if there is one thing my father's know about the old Rachel, is that I am always fashionably late for their dinners."

"That doesn't sound like you at all." Quinn mutters. "You've never been late for me."

"Well, that's because I liked being early, it gave me more time to see you before you disappeared for work."

"Mom, I'm hungry... are we going to get out of the car any time soon." Beth whines from the back seat.

"Yes, honey... let's go get our grub on..." Quinn slaps a hand over her mouth.

"Wow, that sounded like something Santana would say." Rachel laughed a little next to her.

"Sorry, it just came out." they clamber out of the car and are greeted before they could even knock on the door.

"They're finally here" Hiram yells as she pulls Rachel through the thresh holes and into a hug. "Oh goodness it's been too long sweet pea."

"Ugh... Daddy, it's only been a week." he lets her go. "I missed you too." Rachel quickly hugs her Dad who came out of the kitchen to greet them. "It smells wonderful dad."

"Thank you sweetie... your father and I have been slaving away for this little dinner, and you and Quinn look lovely this evening."

The Berry's then usher them into the living room where they are greeted by Judy, who was sipping a giant glass of wine.

"There they are." Judy slurs slightly then laughs. "Goodness, it sounds like I have been drinking for hours. Well Quinny you look... I haven't seen you all dolled up in years, and Rachel my goodness. Ah, there's my sweet little bean." Beth runs into her Grandma's awaiting arms.

"She looks adorable." Leroy says to Quinn.

"Yeah, she insisted picking out her own clothes so."

"Well, since we are all here, let's dig in."

The meal was lavished just like the Sunday dinners they have every Sunday at her mother's house. The only difference was the vegan Meatloaf being the main dish instead of the usual Meatloaf. But other than that it was like any other dinner. Having the two families together seemed so natural, considering they really haven't known the Berry's that long.

"My goodness Harim, Leroy... you've cooked way too much." Judy groans as she sits down on the couch after their amazing feast.

"Well, we do love a good dinner party. Now you girls are going to have to top it."

"Oh, I think Rachel will be able to make something amazing." Quinn groaned as she sat down next to Rachel who was holding Beth on her lap.

"Quinn, you will be helping next Sunday as well... Rachel isn't your own personal chef." Judy scolds.

"I know." Quinn gives Rachel a glance who was smiling. 'She's more than that.'

"Rachel is Mommies Lobster." Beth says loudly.

"I'm sorry... what." Harim asks in confusion.

"She's her lobster... so they hold hands and kiss-"

"Whoa there little one..." Quinn tries to get Beth to stop.

"What's she talking about." Judy asks.

"Um..."

"What, she is... they kiss and have sleepovers."

"Okay! Beth why don't you go and see... um..." she looks at Rachel for help who just shrugs. "Fine... we were going to tell you guys... when it came up."

"So you two are together?." Judy says bluntly.

"How long has this been going on Rachel?" Leroy asks.

"Um... we've had one date so far."

"And you're already having sex- sleep overs." Judy gasps.

"What mom no... we're taking things slow."

"Well, I'm not going to lie to you... I'm really not that surprised." Judy shrugs.

"Mom! What is that supposed to me."

"Well... I'm not one to be playing matchmaker or something, but there was just something between you two. I saw it the first day you met Rachel, in fact I'm surprised you two didn't... you know... sooner."

"Mom! Please stop talking."

"What, Harim and Leroy were thinking the same thing right. It's nothing to be shy about Quinn, I knew you had relations with that one girl in college... that feisty Santana girl."

"So what, you three have been waiting to see how long it would take for us to get together?" Quinn couldn't believe it.

"No... sweetie when I introduced you to Rachel it was like I said, you needed help and Rachel well she was the only one I trusted that could help. From there I just let nature take its course."

"Well, I'm a little shocked." Leroy says. Looking at Harim for confirmation, who too looked a little shocked. "Rachel we had no idea you were dating girls."

"Dad... it wasn't a big deal, I mean I'm an adult, she's an adult."

"Sweetie, that's not what he means... this is a big thing in your life that we had no idea about. Are you gay?"

"That's kind of something I'm not really comfortable talking about with Beth in the room daddy, but I don't like putting labels on myself. I like who I like. Which leads me into something I should have told you months ago... at the time I wasn't ready, but I think I'm ready to tell you. Um, Judy would you mind..."

"Oh, not at all darling... Beth and I will go and find some delicious cookies and milk while you guys talk. Come on sweetie." Judy leads Beth out of the room.

"Honey pleases your starting to worry us." Harim says after a long moment of silence. Quinn reaches out and laces her hand with Rachel's giving her a reassuring squeeze. It takes her a moment, but eventually Rachel tells her fathers about Cassie... not actually telling them her name since she was 85% sure one of her fathers would probably track her down to give her a piece of their mind. Both of her fathers were furious, not at Rachel, but at the teacher who was supposed to be responsible for teaching and promoting their daughters' education only to have taken advantage of her instead. Rachel feels immensely lighter after talking to her parents, just like she did when she told Quinn.

"So what are you going to do sweetie..."

"Well... I like where I am right now, and I plan to find another job as soon as Beth starts school. I've been thinking of looking into teaching... and I even started singing again."

"That's wonderful dear, as long as you're happy." Leroy pulls Rachel into her lap.

"Thank you dad, daddy. I'm sorry I kept so much from you guys. I thought I could handle it on my own... but it turns out it was doing more damage to me than I realized."

"It's hard growing up, and we understand that you were just trying to become more independent, if that's even possible. But we're your parents for a reason, so from now on please, talk to us." Hiram hugs his daughter as well. "And I realize you and Quinn have just started seeing each other, but I thought you should know you guys look adorable together." he whispers in Rachel's ear.

"Thanks daddy."

After Beth got her fill of cookies the three of them decided it was time to head home. Beth fell asleep on the ride home, which wasn't surprising.

After tucking the blonde Wild child into bed, Quinn walks into her room and sees Rachel already on her side of her bed. "I didn't even have to invite you this time."

"Well... truthfully, I don't want to be alone right now. Is that okay with you?" Quinn quickly shimmies out of her clothes and jumps into bed, making Rachel laugh at her eagerness.

"It is definitely okay with me. We had a very interesting day, what with my kid telling our parents were sleeping together."

"Yeah, I didn't think that was going to happen. Why, did you plan on telling them another way?"

"Text... that was my plan." Rachel slaps her arm.

"Quinn you couldn't have told them through text... that's just rude."

"No, it's not... plus then we wouldn't have needed to worry about all those questions afterwards since my mom can't text to save her life."

"Quinn, I'm sure she would have just called you."

"Oh... right. Still would have been less awkward." Rachel nods.

"But it was cute... Lobster."

"I am not a Lobster."

"But you're my lobster."

Quinn couldn't help but smile at the thought before the two of them fell asleep in each other's arms.

Monday

It was one of those mornings Quinn hated to leave. Having Rachel next to her again as her eyes opened almost made her call into work to take the day off, but unfortunately she had to go in, since Santana was going to be picking her up in her own car this morning. She still however laid in bed with the sleeping girl she would no longer call the nanny until Rachel woke up. They then fell into their usual routines. Rachel went downstairs to her workout while Quinn was busy getting ready for work. That was then followed by the leftover breakfast Rachel warmed up for her, which she enjoys eating alongside her 'girlfriend'. Beth was still sleeping when she heard a car honk outside.

"That must be Santana." Rachel says as they made their way to the door. "I'll see you tonight... are you going to make it to the Dance class." Rachel asks as she hands Quinn her purse.

"I have my fingers crossed. I'll texted you when I know for sure though." Quinn turns to leave only to be stopped by Rachel, we quickly caught her lips with her own. It wasn't going to get old, kissing Rachel. Quinn almost pouts when the brunette pulls away.

There was another honk outside.

"She sounds impatient... you better go."

"Yeah, I'll see you later." she waves to Rachel as they pull out of the driveway.

"God damn it, take your sweet time, why don't you." Santana mutters as she gets into the car.

"Well, good morning to you too sunshine."

"Shut it Blondie... is that coffee for me." she grabs Quinn's mug.

"Sure... it seems like you need it more than me anyway." Santana glares at her.

The drive to work was, well, a lot faster than usual considering Santana was driving. They hadn't talked much on the drive... since Santana needed her coffee before she could function like a human being. The two of them were early, most of the people were still filing into their cubicles and what not. They even managed to beat Sam, Quinn's new assistant.

"I thought assistants were supposed to arrive before the boss." Santana grumbles as she walks into Quinn's office and lies back on the couch."

"Well, if someone had managed to not drive like they were a fucking Nascar driver he might have beaten us here."

"Still... I need coffee."

"You just finished mine."

"Yeah, and now I need more." Santana grumbles.

"Fine I'll text him to bring you some coffee-"

"And a muffin." Santana interrupts.

"And a muffin."

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it."

Thankfully, Quinn made it through the morning storm that was Santana in one piece. Sam even managed to make her morning slightly easier by hitting on Santana and forcing the angry Latina to leave mumbling angrily under her breath.

It wasn't so bad for a Monday, she found herself texting back and forth with Rachel the majority of the morning, evidently Beth was in love with craw stations again, and the two of them spent the morning watching Lobstermen on the discovery channel, which Rachel found slightly disturbing but at the same time fascinating, she then managed to get Beth to watch SpongeBob, which was a nice change of pace. Quinn was enjoying their back and forth texting so much half of the day went by before she knew it.

"Hey... its lunch time so imma eats in here with you." Santana says as she enters the room.

"It's good to see you are finally acting like yourself."

"Yeah sorry, you know how I am in the mornings."

"Yeah... I do unfortunately. So how was your weekend after dropping off Beth." Quinn asks.

"Um... it was okay... why what did you hear." Santana snaps the last part.

"Just what Beth told me... come on S... I can tell there's something on your mind."

"Okay fine. It was terrible, there I said it. I Santana had the worst weekend ever."

"What? Come on S, looking after Beth wasn't that bad was it?"

"No, she was fine... a little crazy."

"Well then what happened. I don't understand."

"It's Brittany."

"Brittany? Brittany who?"

"Beth's Dance Teacher!"

"Okay... still lost, but continue."

"I couldn't get my Mack on with anyone Quinn, not even the slutty waitress at Juniors. It was disturbing, I was so off my game I could even enjoy all the ladies around me."

"Because of miss Pierce?"

"It's Brittany, Bitch."

"Right... oh... oohhh... nooo no no no absolutely not. I draw the line at my kids' teacher."

"It's not like that, Quinn please just listen to me, I've been thinking about her all freaken weekend, and I can't stop. Please you need to help me."

"I'm not helping you get with my daughters dance teacher."

"Oh my god Q, I'm not thinking with my metaphorical Dick right now... We had something between us on Friday... Like an energy thing… hell we were practically eye fucking it was that good. But Brittany, I don't know does something to me… I couldn't even get myself to ask for her number. I need to see her again, please. Just let me pick Beth up again, I'll even watch her so you and Rachel can do the nasty or something."

"No Santana."

"Come on Quinn." Santana gives her the best pout she could, which looked rather painful.

"Fine... I'll think about it."

"See, this is why you're the best, right here" Santana smiles. "So now that we've talked about me, go ahead and fill me in on your weekend, did you get some."

"And she's back. Nope, but everything went splendidly."

"Splendid... That's not enough Quinn, let me in on the good stuff please. Ever since you hired that Man Fish out there I've needed to get my entertainment from outside sources."

"Sam isn't that bad."

"Quinn I've been hit on 3 times today, and all with his creepy Darth Vader voice."

"Well, at least I won't need to replace him in six months."

"You got that right. Though the way those horn girls in this office are staring at him other departments might be asking you to get rid of him. The guys got player written all over him."

"Sam is a good guy, trust me, I know a player when I see them."

"Oh yes I forgot you dated one."

"Two actually... Puck and You."

"I am not a player... I was a one gal girl the whole time I was with you, and I've never cheated on any girl."

"No, but you haven't actually dated a girl since we broke up. I was your last somewhat healthy relationship which is saying something."

"What."

"Face it San, you have been single for just as long as I have."

"Whatever... so I take it you didn't hook up with Rachel then."

"Nope... just a very heavy make out session, some groping, but it was still amazing."

"Yeah, younger chicks are hot."

"You got that right."

"How old do you think Brittany is?" Santana wonders aloud.

End... for now.

* * *

><p>That's all I have for you for now. It took a while, hopefully you all like it. Between three jobs and a being a full time student my life is pretty busy. So I apologize for the long updates. Just keep reminding me and I'll try my best to update as much as I can.<p>

Some spoilers, there will be more Puck in the Future, and more Brittana. But that's all I can give you that's set in stone.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer- I don't own glee or its characters.

Thank you all once again for the reviews. To those who have reviewed more than once you guys rock, to those who are first time reviewers, I'm glad you like the story so far.

As always all mistakes are my own

**Late Morning Lullaby**

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><p>It was unmistakable, the noise of her bedroom door opening. 'Wait, hasn't this already happened to me? I distinctly remember this feeling.' Quinn curls up tightly in her blankets as her ears strain in order to confirm what she had just heard. Surly it was just her imagination playing tricks on her. It wasn't until she felt the bed dip that her mind broke free from its unconscious dream like state. A part of her wants to open up her eyes to see who is crawling up the length of her body, but judging by the small laugh that came from above her, it could only be one person.<p>

"I can tell you're awake Quinn." Rachel's voice whispers into her ear, sending goosebumps up her neck. She can't help but grin. Rachel's body lies perfectly on top of hers. "Yeah, that's right, keep smiling Blondie..." Rachel bites her ear ever so lightly causing Quinn's eyes to open.

"Ssstooop" she tries to bury herself deeper into her comforter. It was way too early to get up.

"You are not going back to sleep Quinnie..." Quinn groans at the nickname. "Today is a monumental day, and we have far too many things to accomplish, so no sleeping in. It's time to get up." Rachel tries to uncover the blonde, but fails to do so. "Come on Quinn… please." Rachel gives Quinn her best pout even though she knew Quinn couldn't see it.

Quinn groans "yes mom." she can tell Rachel is giving her that 'I'm serious' Rachel Berry look. "Okay for real I'm up now." Quinn rolls onto her back, allowing Rachel's body to slide perfectly between her legs. 'God, she fits so perfectly against me… if only this blanket wasn't in the way' Quinn thinks as she sits up a little in order to capture Rachel's lips in a gentle kiss. "Good morning." she mumbles before capturing Rachel's lips yet again.

Rachel returns the kiss. "Good morning... Hey that's no fair you're trying to distract me."

"Is it working?" Quinn asks as she pulls Rachel's body into hers. Things have been getting heated up between the two 'Roomates'. They always seem to be seeking out each others touch whenever they're in the same room for too long. However, they haven't taken that next step. Even though at this moment sex was the only thing on Quinn's mind. Everything happening between them just seems to be moving at a wonderful stress free pace.

"No." Rachel finally answers her question when they break apart from kissing.

"Liar" Rachel rolls off of Quinn before she can distract her more. They did after all have a very busy day ahead of them.

"Come on... We have a very tight schedule to maintain, and we're already five minutes behind it." Rachel says as she rolls off the bed. "Now get that cute butt in the shower, or Beth and I will leave you here." Rachel looks really serious.

"Fine." Quinn misses Rachel's body as soon as she rolled off the bed. That was the one thing she was actually starting to love about getting closer to the Brunette. It was becoming more of a regular thing, having Rachel sleep in the same bed with her at night. There was no longer an empty space next to her most nights. Except the few times Rachel insisted that they slept in separate beds since they worked so hard bringing her bed into the house in the first place. However, no more than a few hours later Rachel had snuck back into Quinn's room. She claims it was because she couldn't sleep, but Quinn knew that it was a little more than that. The one thing she was starting to understand about Rachel was she was an adamant snuggler, which Quinn had no problem fulfilling that role. Quinn quickly strips out of her remaining clothing before jumping into the shower. Rachel had been right about one thing, today was a very important and busy day. For one, it was the first time since her maternity leave that she had taken off a full day of work. That's right, Rachel had convinced her to take a whole day off from work. It all started a couple of days ago when Beth got her acceptance letter for kindergarten, turns out she would be starting school a lot sooner than Quinn had anticipated.

Flash back to a few days before…

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><p><em>Rachel was busy straightening up the house while Beth was busy in the living room coloring the picture she drew of her family. Rachel and her mom were holding her hands in it. It was noon on Wednesday, and the two of them were a little lonely since Quinn was at work still. "Hey Beth... The mailman just pulled up, do you want to go with me to find out if we got anything in the mail." Rachel asked as she walks into the living room.<em>

_"Yes!" Beth says as she jumps up from the living room table, leaving her drawing forgotten amongst the color crayons._

_"Well, come on then silly." With that, Beth rushes towards the front door, the two of them opt to go barefoot since the mailbox wasn't that far from the door. The mailman smiles as he's greeted by the rambunctious five year old._

_"Well good afternoon miss..." Beth looks to Rachel for guidance. She knew she wasn't allowed to talk to strangers, and she wasn't sure if the mailman was considered one. Rachel gives her an encouraging nod of approval._

_"Good afternoon Mr. Mailman." Beth gives him the cheekiest smile ever._

_"Here's your mail." Beth grins as she takes the handful of letters and rushes back towards Rachel._

_"Thank you!" They wave goodbye to the man as he continues along his route. "What did we get! Rachel!" Beth hands her the handful of white envelopes. Rachel didn't feel right opening anything since most of them were addressed to Quinn._

_"Well, it looks like your mama got some bills... Oh wait... This one has your name on it too." Rachel eyes the envelope._

_"Can we open it... Please please please." Beth jumps with excitement, its not everyday a five year old gets a letter._

_"Um... How about I call your mom first... She might want to be involved since her name is on it too." After making their way back inside Rachel dials Quinn's cell. She was pretty sure Quinn would want to hear about this since the envelope was from Beth's future school. They'd been on a wait list for the following fall, but Rachel could only imagine that this letter might say something otherwise, since the envelope was so thick._

_Quinn picks up on the third ring._

_"Hey babe... What's up, I was just thinking about you." Quinn answers. "Rachel?"_

_"You just called me babe..." Rachel blushes at the comment. They were already using pet names._

_"Oh... Is that not... Is it too soon for that?" Quinn questions. In her mind, calling Rachel babe seemed natural. Could she be wrong?_

_"No... It's fine. I could see myself getting used to it." she can tell Quinn is smiling just as much as she was._

_"Sooo... What can I do for you." it wasn't very often Rachel called her at work, text yes… call, not so much._

_"Um..." Rachel almost forgot why she called… the 'babe' comment pretty much wiped her train of thought._

_"Ask her!" Beth yells loud enough for Quinn to hear her._

_"Ask me what? What's going on there?"_

_"Well, Beth and I just got the mail... Turns out there's a letter addressed to the both of you... It's from the Melrose School district. Is it okay if we open it up?"_

_"Sure, it sounds important." Rachel puts Quinn on speaker and hands Beth the letter to open it. The young girl rips into it as though it was a birthday gift._

_"What does it say Rachel." Beth asks as she tries to get Rachel to read it. Sure enough, Rachel notices that it is an acceptance letter for the upcoming spring class._

_"It's an acceptance letter Beth... It says here that they are excited to have you in their upcoming class at Melrose... Looks like you will be going to school a lot sooner than we thought." the five year old lets out a squeal of excitement._

_"When does it say she starts?" Quinn manages to say over the excited five year old._

_"Looks like the beginning of next month. They also sent her a school supply list... And an orientation day date... it's for next week." Rachel explains._

_It was hard to believe that her daughter would be starting school so soon. Quinn's eyes start to tear up as she makes her way towards her next meeting. "That's great news." Rachel hears a light flux in Quinn's voice._

_"Are you crying?"_

_Quinn laughs. "Yeah... a little. It's just so exciting." She wipes her eyes._

_"We'll have to celebrate when you get home tonight." Rachel suggests as she turns her phone off speaker so she could hear Quinn better. "I can cook us something special to celebrate."_

_"No... We should go out. I don't want you slaving away in the kitchen all day. We can go to that little Italian place, the one that just opened on fourth." Quinn suggests._

_"Okay... hey are you going to be able to make it to karate today?"_

_"Um, I should be able to, I know I'll be there before it's over. I'll call you when I leave the office." Quinn has been trying her best to make it to all of Beth's extracurricular classes, even if she can't make it to the whole thing, she tries her best to get there before it ends._

_"Sounds good... babe." Rachel lets the last word roll off her tongue._

_"Nice... shit, I got to go... I'll talk to you later."_

_The rest of the day was spent putting together a shopping list for Beth. The young blonde was going to need new clothes, notebooks, crayons, you know the essentials._

_Later that day at karate._

_Beth was excited to tell her friends she would be attending school soon. Rachel watches the young girl through the window as the kids began their karate lesson. "Hey Rachel." Tina walks up behind her._

_"Tina... you're looking dazzling today." Rachel greats her friend._

_"No Quinn today." Tina says as a statement, but Rachel waves her off. "Beth looks like she's on cloud nine... what's got her so excited?"_

_"Oh... She was accepted in the upcoming semester at Melrose, she's been bouncing off the walls ever since." Rachel explains. The young girl was a bundle of endless energy._

_"Oh, that's fantastic, my two have been signed up for that semester too. This is fantastic, our kids are going to be in the same grade at the same school..." Tina exclaims. Rachel didn't miss the 'our kids' comment, sometimes she actually felt like Beth was hers, and Quinn's of course. "We should celebrate... you know that this means their whole dance/karate class will be attending the same school. I was talking to Mercedes the other day about her little girl, it looks like she is transferring into our district." Tina was really excited about this._

_"Wow... maybe we should have a cook out... or something." Rachel suggests. "To celebrate."_

_"That's a fantastic idea... does Friday work for you and Quinn?" Rachel doesn't have time to respond. "Hey Mercedes... yeah" Tina waves. "Just a second Rachel... I need to go and talk to the other parents about this. I'll be right back."_

_"O-okay." with that Tina rushes over towards Mercedes Jones and the other parents. She was a little stunned at what just happened. Hopefully Quinn wouldn't mind having the party at her house on Friday._

_**-Hey, I'm on my way.**_

_Rachel receives a text from Quinn. She looks at the clock, 'looks like she'll just barely make it for the class.' Rachel thinks as she calculates how long it'll take Quinn arrive. Rachel gets lost in the kids class, Beth was by far the best in her opinion. She so enthralled with the little blonde that she doesn't even notice a man standing next to her._

_"Which one's yours." the deep voice startles Rachel as she looks next to her. The man next to her gives her a genuine smile. He was tall, dark, and I guess handsome._

_"Oh... um the little blonde one there." Rachel points to Beth._

_"Wow, she's got some moves." the man says._

_"Thanks... she takes after her mom." Rachel says with a smirk. Of course, she knew Quinn was more of a lover than a fighter, but she has no doubt Quinn could hold her own in a fight._

_"My names Brody by the way." he holds out his hand to Rachel._

_"Rachel. " She shakes his hand. "Are you enrolling your kid into classes?" Rachel asks. Really, why else would he be here._

_"Oh no... I don't have any kids." Rachel nods. "I was here for a job interview. Miss Pierce is looking for a theatrical art teacher." Brody explains. "I'm actually a student at Nyada in the city. Have you heard of it?"_

_"The New York Academy of Dramatic Arts! Yeah, of course I've heard of it. I actually applied to it in high school."_

_"You're into drama too?"_

_"Yeah... I - I got accepted into Julliard... it was my second choice, of course... Nyada is just so hard to get into." Brody agrees with her there._

_"Hey don't knock Julliard... that a respectable school as well, and just as impressive as NYADA."_

_"Not if you're into musical theater..."_

_"Well, there is that." Brody jokes. "So... it must be hard juggling school and a kid... unless you've already graduated... which is impressive since I'm pretty sure I'm older than you." He gives her a once over._

_"Oh... I um... I didn't actually finish school. I dropped out." Rachel explains. "But it's okay... I enjoy looking after Beth, and who knows, maybe one day I'll go back. I'm taking it one day at a time."_

_"That's the spirit... the arts are important. You know, Miss Pierce is looking for a vocal coach too. Maybe you should think of applying, you know, until you decide what it is you want to do. A pretty girl like you shouldn't give up on music all together" Rachel can't help but blush even though she knew it was wrong. She was dating Quinn and even though she knew she shouldn't encourage Brody's less then subtle flirting an learing, she couldn't help but grin at the compliment. However, Brody did have a point, working for Brittany might be a good idea since she wouldn't be looking after Beth during the day here soon, that and the fact that she was starting to miss singing._

_"Thanks for the tip, I'll ask Brittany about it later."_

_"Well, hopefully she'll let you apply. Anyway, I should get going, hopefully I'll see you around... you know if I land this job." Just as Brody was saying goodbye Quinn walks in, she notices the man right away and instantly heats up. She could tell the two of them interacting with each other was nothing but innocent flirting, however a part of her wanted to rush over and 'get all up in that young guys face', as Santana might have put it. She notices the two of them say goodbye and makes her way towards Rachel, who waves to her as soon as she notices her._

_Quinn pulls Rachel into a hug as soon as she's close enough, and looks over her shoulder at the retreating guy. "You made it... the group has been working on their punches." Rachel says as Quinn loosens up her grip. " How was work?"_

_"Long... boring, you know the usual... um who was that you were talking to... the young man guy person?" Quinn tries her best to look uninterested in Rachel's answer, but Rachel sees right through it._

_"That... young man guy person was Brody... I didn't catch his last name."_

_"Huh... and you and he were discussing?" again, she tries her best to play it cool._

_"Broadway... singing... you know the usual drama geek stuff. Actually, he was applying here as an instructor in theatrical arts."_

_"Oh..."_

_"Yeah, oh... oh shoot... I need to tell you something." Rachel quickly explains the Tina thing to Quinn. This was fine since Quinn really wanted to get to know the other parents better anyway. A small get together would give them just that opportunity._

* * *

><p>End of flashback<p>

In the end, Quinn decided to take Friday off all together in order to help Rachel get ready for today's events. They were also planning on school shopping for Beth as well, and if that wasn't enough, Beth still had her dance lessons. So suffice to say there was a lot going on in the FaBerry household. "Quinn if you're not downstairs in the next 10 minutes Beth and I will be forced to leave you at home!" Rachel yells through the bathroom door.

"What have I gotten myself into." Quinn wonders out loud. True to her word by the time Quinn had dried off, gotten dressed, and hurried downstairs both Rachel and Beth were already putting on their shoes.

"Hurry up momma, Rachel says were running late..." Beth says as she tries her best to tie her shoes, only to be helped by Rachel.

"What about breakfast? "Quinn whines. It was her day off after all, shouldn't she at least get to eat something.

"I packed you a bran muffin, and here is your coffee." Rachel hands her the coffee mug. "Come on now... lets go."

Before she knew it, she was standing in the middle of the kids section at the local mall. Holding a stack of kids clothing while Rachel and Beth were busy digging through the racks. Rachel had insisted that Beth should have a whole new wardrobe for school, which was evident by how many different pairs of clothing Quinn was now holding. It really wasn't that bad though.

"I want this one!" Beth rushes over to the backpacks. She grabs the green and purple Scooby-doo backpack.

"Don't you already have a backpack at home?" Quinn says as she eyes the pack. It was pretty cute though.

"But this one comes with a cool lunch box mom… please!"

"How can you say no to that face." Rachel whispers to her.

"I can't, that's the problem. Fine… lets get the rest of your stuff and get out of here."

Finally, they were finished shopping, just in time for dance class. Quinn was exhausted. Maybe her job wasn't as hard as she thought it was. Luckily they would be able to rest while Beth was busy dancing her little heart out.

"Rachel… over here." Tina calls to them as soon as Beth walks into the classroom. Rachel leads them over to the group of parents.

"Hey, everyone's here." Rachel gives Tina a hug. "You guys remember Beth's mom, Quinn" Rachel reintroduced her to the group. "Quinn this is Tina… the twins' mother."

"Nice to meet you again." Quinn shakes her hand along with the rest of the group. Sure, she had met these people, but only a couple of times. She knew Tina is married to another instructor at the dance studio, but hasn't actually met 'Mike'. She knew Mercedes Jones is a single mom like her. She didn't, however know the Andersons very well. Kurt she found out works at Vouge, which was impressive. While Blaine was some sort of up and coming singer songwriter. These were the people she would be getting to know later.

"Wow, Quinn you actually made it to the start of a class, usually you come in later." Tina says after the introductions.

"Quinn took the day off actually." Rachel explains "we had a rather busy morning."

"Isn't it great that our kids will be in the same school" someone said, but Quinn's attention turns to the Dancing Dojo's entrance.

"Um I'll be right back…" she says as she stalks towards the door.

The group watches her. "Who's that?" Tina asks Rachel.

"Oh that… that's-"

"Santana what in the fu- what are you doing here." sure enough the Latina was at the dance studio.

"Oh, you know… I was just in the area." Santana inspects her nails. "I can't believe you actually took off work, and didn't tell me. I had to find out from trouty mouth that you were taking a vacation day. So I thought I should come and see this for myself." Santana shrugs.

"Right… and you just happened to know I would be here how?"

"Oh, I totes looked through your personal planner... found out you were here." Santana shrugs.

"So the only reason you came down here was to find out what I was up too?" Quinn wasn't convinced.

"Yup."

"So you're not here to stalk Brittany."

"Nope... totally here for you - Brittany!" Santana yells across the room as soon as Brittany comes down the stairs. "Hang on to that snide remark Fabray... I'll be right back." and with that Santana makes her way towards the blonde dancer. Quinn rejoins the group.

"Santana showed up." Rachel states the obvious. "Is she hitting on Brittany." Quinn pinches her nose.

"Probably" she mutters to herself. It wasn't long after that Mike, Tina's husband joins the group as well. It was Quinn's first time meeting him, but he seemed like a nice guy.

"So... Mike and I were curious Rachel, since Beth is starting school here what do you plan on doing during the day?"

"Oh, I haven't really given it much thought..." lies, that's all she has been thinking about for days now.

"You know Brittany is hiring for a vocal coach." Mike says.

"So I've heard." 'a lot, from multiple people now.'

"Rachel here is an amazing singer... Mike and I saw her on stage a while ago. Just simply amazing. Brittany could really use talent like yours." Tina says quickly.

"We actually just hired a young gentleman here... this week I think. He hasn't started yet, but I hear he's pretty good. I can talk to Brittany for you if you like to see if she's still looking." Mike says.

"Oh, that's sweet of you, really. I mean I haven't really thought about what I'm going to do yet to tell you the truth."

"Hey everyone..." Brittany joins the group followed closely by Santana, who was smirking like a crazy person. Quinn couldn't help but shake her head at her strange friend. "It's good to see you all getting along so well. I like seeing such happy parents." Brittany says. "So what have you all been gossiping about, anything good." Birttany eyes the group.

"Oh, just this and that. We're actually having a cookout tonight to celebrate the five kids starting Melrose here together." Mercedes says.

"Yeah... it's a big deal" Santana says over Mercedes interrupting her completely. "In fact, you should come to this get together as well... right Quinn?"

"Excuse me..."

"You know this thing that you all are having at your place later today... Brittany you should totally come too. I mean Quinn invited me and didn't even tell me that it was a couple's thing so now I'm going to be there all by myself while they talk about, you know parenting, and stuff... so you should come too." Santana rambles as Quinn gives her the death glare.

"Oh no... I shouldn't, I don't want to impose on this bonding thing you 'all got going on." Brittany says sweetly.

"You wouldn't be imposing... right Quinn." Santana looks for Quinn's help only to receive an amused raised eyebrow.

"Santana's right... you should come, we're all friends here." Rachel comes to Santana's rescue. "Plus, we're making so much food, there will be plenty for everyone, right Quinn." Rachel taps Quinn with her arm.

"Huh... oh yes, Brittany, please I insist."

"Well, okay... it is Friday after all." Brittany says with a grin.

After Beth's class the three of them, rushed back home to get started on the food before their guests arrived. Santana was the first to arrive, which was fine with Quinn since she needed help in the kitchen anyway, while Rachel helped Beth change into some play clothes.

"I still can't believe you invited yourself to our get together just so you could invite Brittany. Why didn't you just ask her out."

"Well... first of all Quinn I didn't want to put her on the spot in front of all of her clients, and this way I can get to know her a little better before you know... I ask her out." Santana grabs the meat from the fridge. Quinn tries her best to read her friend, it was weird, she's never seen Santana so… so…

"Are you actually nervous about asking Brittany out." She asks as she grabs a large knife from the block.

"What n-no... Santana Lopez doesn't get nervous."

"She does, however refer to herself in the third person, please say you don't do that while you're talking to Brittany… you know this is starting to all make sense."

"Fuck you Quinn... I told you I feel differently around Brittany... okay. She's isn't one of those girls who I plan on flirting, fucking, and forgetting." Santana says harshly. Quinn eyes her up again.

"Okay... I believe you." Quinn says as she slices up some veggies.

Santana seems a little shocked by this, normally Quinn puts up more of a fight. "Good... I'm sorry for yelling."

"Just try not to swear around the kids tonight. I'm supposed to be making a good impression on these people... they're Beth's friend's parents after all."

"You know I'm actually surprised you took today off just to have a BBQ. What did Sue say?"

"Oh, you know, the usual stuff when people try to take off work... though I thought she was going to jump across her desk when I told her why I needed the day off. I have over 12 months in paid vacation, the lady is lucky I come to work at all."

"That bitch be cray... sorry last time I swear."

While Beth gives the official tour to the guests after they arrived, Quinn and Rachel finished putting together the food. They had, homemade veggie burgers, tofu hot dogs, along with some delicious normal meat products. After the tour, the kids decide to play an ultimate game of freeze tag while the parents sit down at the picnic table and wait for the food to finish.

"You have a lovely place Quinn. It's beautifully decorated, I don't think I could do better myself. " Kurt says after they all settle down to eat.

"Thank you." conversations amongst each other were civil as the group of parents got to know each other better. Things like 'how long have you been married' or 'where did you two meet.' were asked around the group. It was kind of weird for Quinn and Rachel to answer them considering they met through Quinn's mother, and she worked as Beth's nanny before they started seeing each other. They found out that Mercedes was actually a widow, who lost her husband in Iraq, and that Blaine and Kurt had gotten engaged in high school. Tina and Mike were also high school sweethearts who broke up after Mike graduated, since Tina was a year younger than him. During this time, Quinn found it slightly amusing to find Santana and Brittany talking as though they were in their own little world. Brittany really seemed to enjoy Santana's company altogether, and Quinn couldn't help but notice the small touches they were giving each other. 'Oh yeah, Santana was right, there was something between them. The conversation, however went back to the Dancing Dojo, and back to Brittany's job opening.

"Really Britt you should hear Rachel sing. The chicks got some pipes." Mike says.

"I've heard... we both attended the same college you know. Are you planning on going back this semester?" Brittany serves Santana another slice of apple pie, only to take a bite of it herself.

"I really haven't thought about it... I should start though, considering I'll be jobless here soon." she elbows Quinn lightly.

"Well, if you decide to stay... you should come to work at the Dancing Dojo. I'm always looking for great instructors and I know for a fact that you're good with kids. Plus, we have a green instructor just starting... I think you've met him, and though he has his stuff down, I have a feeling he doesn't know how to interact with younger children. He could probably use your help."

Quinn didn't like the sound of that.

"It all sounds great really... but don't you want me to audition first?"

"Well, only if you really want to... but I trust Mike... if he says you can sing, I believe him." Mike gives her a reassuring nod.

"You should really think about it Rach. Your voice should be heard." Quinn whispers. In the end Quinn really wanted Rachel to be happy, and she knew in Rachel's heart of hearts music was her life.

"Tell you what... take some time and think about it, but I'll hold the position for you until you decide for sure what you what to do." Brittany says when she notices Rachel's uncertain face.

"Thanks Brittany... that's really considerate of you."

Later that night after everyone had left, and Beth had been tucked into bed, Quinn found herself snuggling into her diva. "Today was nice... I had a lot of fun." She was so tired from running around all day.

"Well, it was a pretty good way to spend a Friday. I'm glad I took off work." Rachel snuggles closer into Quinn. Leaning up to capture Quinn's lips with her own.

Rachel pulls away after a minute. "Do you think I should take Britt up on that job offer?"

"I think you should do whatever will make you the happiest."

"It could be fun... plus I'm not ready to go back to school." Rachel murmurs. "But, I want to wait until after Beth starts kindergarten."

"That's sounds like a good plan." Quinn captures Rachel's lips again. Before long, Rachel was straddling Quinn's thigh as they rocked against each other.

"Wait." Rachel pulls away from Quinn, who lets out a frustrating moan. "What about Beth, we shouldn't..."

"No, right... we can't" Rachel leans back down to capture Quinn's lips again, but breaks apart before things get too heated.

"God, I want you so bad..." Quinn murmurs as she buries her face into Rachel's neck biting it ever so lightly.

"Ugh, don' say things like that" Rachel grinds against Quinn "you know I was talking to Tina... about.. Stuff, and she gave me a phone number... supposedly she knows a really- uh - good s-sitter" Rachel moans as Quinn starts to suck on her neck. "No fair... wait Quinn don't... you're going to leave a mark and your mom and my dads are coming over on Sunday."

Suffice to say there were several marks peppered along Rachel's neck by the end of the night. Unfortunately, they couldn't go any further than that since the two of them agree, no sex while Beth was in the house, the last thing they wanted to do was traumatized the young girl. Luckily, a girl named Marley would be their savior, they just had to get through the next couple of days without ripping off each other's clothing.

* * *

><p>Done for now... review if you want. I do enjoy like most writers on here, reading your feedback. You will see more of Brody (even though I dislike him) along other characters coming up since I'm using his presence to test Quinn patients. How do you think she'll react to a younger man working with Rachel?<p>

Things to look forward to um... a bunch of firsts... if that helps... I'll let your mind wander with that.


	12. Chapter 12

**Late morning Lullaby**

Author's notes: No excuses, I've been working on this damn chapter for far too long. It's been rewritten more times than I care to admit.

Chapter 12

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><p>Her world was changing, and for the first time in a long time, she felt like everything was falling into place perfectly. She was happy, happier than she had been in a long time. It's been three weeks since Beth was accepted into Melrose's up in coming kindergarten class, and on top of that, it's been three weeks of dating the one and only Rachel Berry. Three weeks of waking up in pure bliss next to the pint sized nanny who slowly managed to burrow deeper into her life. She spent the last three glorious Fridays with the brunette in her arms, as the three of them watched whatever new animated kids movie Beth had chosen for them. Which lead to three glorious nights of Rachel falling asleep in her arms.<p>

Every night together they spent talking, and laughing no matter how late Quinn came home from work. It was immeasurable, the feelings that would fill her chest every time she woke up next to Rachel. She considers herself lucky… lucky because she never thought she would ever have something like this.

Love, sure she hadn't said to Rachel yet, or out loud, for that matter, but she had no doubts in her mind that's what was causing the butterflies to flutter in her stomach every time the young girl would smile at her. She found herself on multiple occasions stopping herself from muttering those three little words, knowing that as soon as she said them Rachel would be in full possession of her heart. That thought scared her beyond belief. It was the vulnerability of it all that prevented her from screaming out those three words. She had never felt so out of control in her life. She thought she knew what love was, yet Rachel redefined the word all together. Love to her came in the form of a five foot two inch ex-music major, who now sang endlessly in the shower after every morning workout, and cooks food that tastes like it came from some of the finest restaurants in New York, or Paris for that matter. She was a show stopper who caught everyone's attention as soon as she entered the room, and spoke her mind to whomever she was talking to. Rachel was strong, stronger than herself at times. She is also broken, but slowly trying to piece herself back together. Quinn would do anything to help her with those pieces. She was in love, and she had been for the last three weeks.

* * *

><p>Three weeks prior<p>

"Quinn! Look what you did to my neck." Rachel storms into the bedroom in nothing but a towel, the steam following her out of the bathroom as she makes her way towards Quinn who is trying to finish getting dressed. "Quinn!" Rachel waves at the speechless blonde who seems to be completely lost in her head.

It takes her a moment before she's able to respond. "Well to be honest, I think I did a pretty good job- ow" Rachel slaps her arm preventing her from finishing her sentence.

"It looks like a vampire sucked on it last night, and had their wicked way with me. How in the world am I going to conceal these?" Rachel gestures to her neck and the well placed hickies.

"Rach, they don't look that bad," she tries her best to sound convincing. She did however do a pretty good job of marking the girl's neck. The sight of it sends a strange sense of pride through her. "Plus, if I remember correctly, you put a couple on my neck as well." Quinn smirks as she recalls last night events. "A little cover up will help you hide them from our guests." Quinn makes her way towards the still mostly naked nanny, trying her best to control her wondering eyes. _Trying_ being the word, in all actuality she fails miserably.

"You better hope so Lucy Quinn Fabray. The last thing I want is to be interrogated by my fathers and your mother as to why my neck looks like a teenager got a hold of me last night. What time were they going to be here again?"

Quinn looks at her watch. "Um... I think my mom said 7:30, so like twenty minutes or so." Rachel nods and quickly makes her way back into the bathroom to get dressed. Hopefully she could be ready before their parents arrived for dinner.

"Is Beth already dressed?" Rachel calls from the bathroom.

"Yup... for the second time tonight. I swear, I left for like a minute to get her hairbrush, and when I came back, she was in a different outfit." Quinn turns when she hears the bathroom door open once again. This time Rachel was dressed in a familiar looking poke-a-dotted dress. It was similar to the one she'd seen Rachel in the first time they'd met.

Rachel was too busy drying her hair with the same towel she had just been wrapped in minutes ago to notice Quinn staring at her.

"MOM! SOMEONES AT THE DOOR!" she could hear the five year old running to what she assumed was the window next to the front door. "IT'S GRANDMA!" Quinn is forced to look away from the brunette.

"Shoot... they're already here. I still need to do my hair, and makeup... I'll be down in a minute, I promise." Rachel says before rushing back into the bathroom once more.

Quinn can't help but smirk as she leaves the room.

Downstairs Beth is making funny faces at Judy, who is still standing outside since the door is locked. The sight was pretty funny and Quinn was almost tempted to leave her mom out there. But of course, she didn't, as soon as Quinn opens the door her mom practically pushed past her to get inside.

"My goodness it's freezing out there, seriously, I can't believe how quick the weather is changing." Judy says as she takes off her coat and hands it to Quinn. "And then you have this little girl making silly faces at me through the window as her favorite grandma freezes to death on the front porch, now where is my hug." Judy opens her arms up only to have Beth in them moments later. "I've missed my favorite granddaughter so much..." she squeezes Beth, tickling her sides slightly.

"Stop Gamma, it tickles." the girl squirms from the older woman's arms. "Gamma come see the picture I painted today... Rachel said it was so good that she hung it up on the refrigerator." Beth pulls on Judy's hand and starts to lead her into the kitchen, Quinn follows right behind them.

"And where is Rachel?" Judy asks as they enter the kitchen.

"Still getting ready upstairs." Quinn says as she stands in the archway of the kitchen. "We had a pretty interesting morning so we're kind of running behind schedule." Judy gives her a questioning glance, but before she can ask, Beth is already showing her the picture. It was pretty good for a five year old.

"And this is Sophie." Beth says.

"Sophie?" Judy questions the black four legged animal in the picture.

"Yup... she's a dog we met at the park this morning. Me and mom and Rachel were playing hot lava, and then Sophie came running across the park, but she was really nice and let me rub her stomach. Then I asked mama if we could keep her, but she said that she was a part of someones family, which was sad because that meant she was lost. Then Rachel said that we could help find her family, so we walked Sophie around the park." Beth explains rather quickly.

"Wow... did you find the owner?" Judy asks as she tries her best to follow the five year old's story.

"Yup... she was running around looking for her the whole time, because Sophie jumped the fence to the dog park and ran after some squirrels. Then I got to feed her some treats, because she knew all these tricks, and we played soccer together. And Sophie was really good and she won, because she was like crazy fast. She was even faster than mom… right mom."

"Yup, that dog had some mad soccer skills." Quinn agrees, remembering how easily the dog could get the ball from her.

"It was a lot of fun... but then Sophie had to go home, which was sad, because I really liked her." Beth pouts.

"But... her owner said the next time they were there you could play with her again, right." Quinn says making Beth smile once again.

"Right. Next time you'll have to come with us Gamma."

"Well, it sounds like you guys had a fun day so far, what kind of dog was it?" Judy asks.

"Umm... I don't remember how to say it. Mom?"

"It was a Newfoundland Chesapeake mix... and she was taller than Beth." Judy looks surprised.

"Sophie even had paws bigger than my hands grandma." Beth holds up both her hands.

"She was pretty much a small black bear." Rachel says as she walks into the kitchen. Her hair is pulled back slightly and was wearing a red silk scarf around her neck.

"Rachel darling... you look gorgeous." Judy hugs Rachel.

"Thank you Judy, you look lovely yourself. So what did I miss?"

"Just Beth regaling me with today's events at the park. What time are your fathers getting here?"

"I actually just got a text from them before I came down, they said they were on their way."

"Well, whatever is in the oven smells delicious... Oh, I left the wine out in the car. Beth do you want to help your grandma quick."

"Yeah!"

With that, Beth grabs her Grandma's awaiting hand and pulls her towards the front door. Quinn watches them leave before looking back towards Rachel, who was now grabbing her oven mitts and opening up the stove door.

"I like your scarf by the way." She says knowing full well what was underneath it.

"It's not funny Quinn, it fact I think I'm a little mad at you." Quinn can't help but smirk.

'Rachel couldn't be that mad at me considering how much she blushed at the scarf comment.' Quinn thinks.

"Rachel! Your dads are here." Beth yells from the other room. Rachel pulls the food from the oven.

"Right on time."

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><p>Present time<p>

The family dinner had been a huge success. Conversations were a lot more interesting than normal thanks to Judy asking questions about Rachel's red scarf, which made Rachel turn red with embarrassment. After dinner, the six of them had ventured down into the basement to show the newly converted storage area that was now Rachel's bedroom. Which led into an impromptu performance from Beth, who insisted on showing the guest how well she could play twinkle twinkle little star on the baby grand piano. Rachel of course helped her. This then led into what could only be described as a mini concert. Rachel's dads decided to sing a duet from one of the greatest musical of all time, Singing in the Rain, followed by Judy. Who decided to try a stab at her favorite song, Hello Darling. Which resulted in laughter. They had to practically beg Rachel to sing, which took a little persuading by the littlest Fabray. Rachel had decided to sing Popular from Wicked that way Beth could join her too. It was fun to see her and Beth perform together. Quinn had decided to go last, her song choice was Don't know Why, by Norah Jones which use to be one of her favorite songs, and one of the only ones she still remembered how to play on the piano without the using of sheet music. She could have sworn she saw Rachel cry during her song.

After they had all sung, Beth had lead Rachel's parents and Judy back upstairs for dessert. Quinn had stopped Rachel from following in order to get a little alone time.

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><p>Flashback.<p>

"What do you want Quinn?" Rachel tries her best to look mad at Quinn, she was interrogated earlier tonight by Judy, and her dads, thanks to her attempt to cover up the troublesome hickies Quinn had given her. Sure, she wasn't actually mad at Quinn, but she wanted to seem like she was for a little while longer.

Quinn, however could see right through the act. She couldn't help but smile at the brunette though. "I know you're not actually mad at me Rach." She says as she maneuvers them up against the wall.

"And how do you know that?" Rachel breathes as she feels the blonde's hands move slowly over her body. The room was definitely feeling warmer than before.

"Because of the way you've been looking at me all night... and I know you secretly like those hickies on your neck... just as much as I like the ones you left on me."

Rachel couldn't help but close her eyes as soon as Quinn's lips were on her's, stealing away any negative emotions and leaving only bliss. The kiss only heated up as soon as Quinn's tongue found its way into her mouth. Time stood still or at least it had felt like it had. It wasn't until they heard someone clear their throat that the two of them broke apart.

"Girls?" Judy says as soon as the girls look at her. Rachel looks slightly panicked when she sees Judy standing in the doorway giving the two of them an amused look. "Are you guys coming up for dessert, or are you two just going to eat each other?"

"MOM!" Quinn yells at her.

Judy raises her arms in defeat before rolling her eyes and giving the two girls a smirk. "I guess you'll be joining us then." She says before disappearing back upstairs.

"Oh my god... she's... she's worse than Santana." Quinn mumbles as soon as they're alone again. Rachel was completely mortified by being caught by Quinn's mom.

Rachel slaps Quinn's arm.

"OW... what was that for?"

* * *

><p>Present time.<p>

Rachel had avoided Judy's glance for the rest of the night.

After the family dinner, things had gotten busier in their household. Beth was starting school soon, and also had a recital coming up for her dance class. They also had attended an orientation at Beth's new school. Luckily, they were able to unwind from such a chaotic schedule thanks to the help from Marley the sitter. This allowed Quinn to take Rachel out dancing. Their date had consisted of drinks and dinner before making their way to Brittany's dance studio.

Dancing with Rachel was actually a lot harder than she thought it was going to be, especially since it wasn't like at a club where people just grind on each other. The Dance Studio was actual dancing, luckily, Rachel knew how to lead otherwise the night probably would have ended with Quinn stepping all over the Diva's toes. It had been successful to say the least, and was extremely fun.

Work over the last three weeks had been about the same except for the fact her boss had started to notice a slip in her work. It wasn't like she had missed any deadlines, or didn't get her paperwork done. It was that she was spending less and less time at work. Which for Quinn was a little abnormal. Luckily, after some manipulation, Quinn had managed to convince Miss Selvester that everything was fine with her, and that she had nothing to worry about.

So a lot had happened over the last three weeks, but nothing more important than what was going to be happening today. Today everything would change in their small household, today was the first day that Beth would be going to school. Which Quinn was trying her best not to think about this early in the morning. On one hand, she felt nervous, knowing that soon she would be waking Beth up to get ready for the day, yet on the other hand, she felt blissful, almost like she was floating on cloud nine.

It is euphoric, having Rachel asleep next to her, here in her warm bed. Holding her in her arms felt so right, as cheesy as it sounds, they fit together perfectly. Quinn buries her face into the nape of Rachel's neck, kissing her ever so lightly. She didn't want to wake her up, but how could she resist. The girl was just too tempting. Snugginling, that is another thing she would never get sick of. Feeling the tone lean body pressed against her own, was amazing. Her bed was no longer empty. Her arms tighten around Rachel as she feels the sunlight play across her exposed skin. 'Ugh, no morning.'

Rachel's eyes were still closed, but Quinn could tell she was awake. Still trying to hold to whatever dream she had been lost in. Quinn tries not to move as she takes in the girl's beauty. The way the light was playing across her skin, and how Rachel's hair is splayed across her pillow, or how her lips were slightly curved into a smile. Quinn continues to pepper the nannies neck with feather light kisses.

"You're staring at me... I can feel it." Rachel whispers as she moves closer into the blonde.

"Can you blame me, you look so beautiful in the morning." Rachel finally decides she needs to stretch, and wriggles from the blonde in order to move her limbs.

"AAHH..." Rachel rolls over onto her back. "Goodness is it already 6 am?" Rachel glances at the clock. "What time do we need to wake Beth up?"

"I think we should let her sleep for a little while longer" Quinn smirks. Rachel smiles at her before rolling back into Quinn.

"Are you nervous… it's a big day."

"No, not really… I mean I don't think I'm nervous. I just can't believe she'll be starting school today."

"She was so excited last night, I hope she at least got some sleep." Rachel murmurers as she runs her hand through Quinn's hair.

"She was pretty tuckered out after our parents left last night… I can't believe how much time has flown by. It's been three weeks." Quinn shudders slightly at the light touches, before her own fingers splay lightly over Rachel's exposed skin.

"At least you don't have to work today." Rachel peppers kisses along Quinn's jaw. "So if she needs us you won't have to drive from the city."

"That's true." There was no way she could have worked today anyway. She wouldn't have gotten anything done.

"I should get up though… I want to get my cardio in before we have to leave." Rachel groans as she starts to sit up only to be stopped by Quinn.

"I can think of a way to get your cardio in." She smirks as she rolls Rachel on top of her and captures the girl's lips with her own. The kiss is slow.

Rachel moans into Quinn's mouth before breaking away. "This wasn't what I meant." Rachel says after they break apart to catch their breath.

"I know... but you haven't tried to stop me yet so I thought…" again, Quinn leans in slowly rolling Rachel onto her back and hovering over top of her.

"We should stop" Rachel, however, makes no attempt to push Quinn off of her, her hands instead tangle in Quinn's hair.

"Yeah... we should" Quinn agrees before continuing their make-out session. Before they know it, Rachel's blouse is completely unbuttoned.

Quinn couldn't resist touching Rachel's now exposed breast.

"Beth could walk in at any moment. You know she's probably up by now," that was like a cold bucket of ice, making Quinn freeze her actions. They both had agreed that hot make out sessions were okay, so long as they could control themselves and not take that next step. At least while Beth was in the house. Quinn slowly rolls off of Rachel. She really didn't want to, considering Rachel's naked chest was still exposed. All she really wants to do is ravish the girl's chest. 'It must be cold in here' she thinks 'such a tease, looking all inviting.' She reaches out and cups Rachel.

"Maybe we could... you know... I mean, if we're really quiet... Beth could still be asleep." Quinn tries to justify.

"No Quinn... we don't have enough time, and the last thing I want is Beth seeing her mother ravaging her nanny. It could scar her for life. Plus, it's her first day of school… that is traumatizing enough."

Quinn pouts. "But I'm so good at ravaging her nanny." Rachel smirks.

"Yeah, you are... but I guess I'll have to get my cardio from somewhere else this morning while you… get that little lion up and moving." Rachel throws back the blankets and jumps out of bed. She lets her pajama top fall to the ground, which instantly draws Quinn's attention. Things like this had started happening last week after Rachel decided to move a few things up to Quinn's room. You know, like underwear, pajamas, and a few other things.

"You are such a tease." Quinn groans as she eyes the girls nice bare back, just hoping the girl turns around and jumps back into bed.

Instead, Rachel just throws her a smirk before disappearing into the walk in closet. She walks out seconds later in a sports bra, and sweat pants. "It's payback for all the times I had to help you undress." She winks at the blonde who was still lingering in bed. "Now get that fine booty up." She says before leaving the room to use the elliptical downstairs.

Quinn rolls out of bed and makes her way into her bathroom, getting ready quickly before she goes to wake up Beth. By the time she's done Rachel is walking back in from her workout, still shining with sweat.

"That was quick?" It seriously has been only 30 minutes.

"Yeah… I did a short workout today… just 4 miles." Rachel shrugs.

"Right… just four. Those words shouldn't be allowed next to each other in a sentence." she jokes. Rachel rolls her eyes.

"Well, as soon as it starts to warm up again… you and I will start running outside. Either before or after work." She winks at Quinn. "And you better have left me some warm water." She says playfully as she walks into the empty bathroom.

Quinn quickly makes up the room before making her way into Beth's room. She half expects Beth to be still sleeping, but upon entering the room, she sees that the girl wide awake, yet still in bed. "Hey baby… are you up?" Quinn asks as she turns on the light. Beth nods slightly. "How is my little lion this morning? Did you sleep well?" Beth shakes her head no. "Aw, why not?"

"I don't feel well." Beth says as she buries herself under her blankets.

"You don't feel well… what's wrong?" She sits down on the bed next to Beth and uncovers her. Beth shrugs. "Well, let's see." She feels the girl's forehead, it was slightly hot, but she was sure that was due to the fact Beth had buried herself under all those blankets. "No fever. Do you have a stomach ache?" Beth shakes her head no.

"I don't think I want to go to school." Beth murmurs.

"You don't want to go to school? But you were so excited for it last night."

"I am excited, but… mama… I don't want to go if you and Rachel are going to miss me like you said you would last night."

"Oh sweetie, we didn't say that so you wouldn't go. Both Rachel and I are so excited for you today."

"Really… I don't know mama…" Beth sits up from the bed looking a little unsure. The girl was a little nervous, a lot was going to happened to her today, and she wouldn't have her Mom or Rachel by her side.

"Trust me little might, you will have so much fun today, you won't even know that Rachel and I aren't there. Plus, you're in the same class with Michelle Jr. and Tommy. And you'll get to play with your other friends at recess. Than after school Rachel and I will pick you up for your karate class, and we can stop for supper at your favorite restaurant after to celebrate your first day of school." Beth gives her a giant smile. "Now how about we get up and pick out an outfit for your first day, then I'll make you some pancakes for breakfast."

Beth jumps up on her bed, surprising Quinn at how fast she was."Can we have strawberry pancakes!" Beth says, no longer sleepy.

"Absolutely… but first we need to get you dressed." Quinn says as she pokes the girl's sides

After getting Beth dressed in her new clothes she picked out for school, they made their way downstairs to start on breakfast. Beth was so excited for school that she wore her backpack at the breakfast table.

"Can I help stir in the eggs?" Beth asks.

"Sure little might…" she cracks a couple eggs into mixing bowl. "Stir it really slow, so you don't spill on your new clothes." Quinn says as she slides the mixing bowl over to Beth.

"Like this?" Quinn watches as the five year old slowly stirs the wet ingredients into the dry. Only spilling once, but only on the counter. After the pancake batter was done, Quinn cut up some strawberries, while frying her bacon.

"What'cha making?" Rachel asks as she walks into the kitchen all freshly showered and dressed for the day." she could smell the bacon frying, which in all honesty smelt good, but she wouldn't tell Quinn that.

"Bacon pancakes." Rachel scrunches up her face. "Don't worry, I already made your pancakes, they're on the table… also a nice big cup of coffee for you." Quinn places her cup in front of Rachel. Beth was already munching down on her own plate of pancakes. The three of them talked adamantly over breakfast about Beth's first day of school.

After breakfast, the three of them load up into the car. The drive to school is spent listening and singing to the radio. It wasn't until they were pulling in the gates of Melrose that Quinn was starting to feel a little anxious. They visited the school a few weeks prior, meeting most of the school staff, and of course Beth's teacher Miss Fields. The place as warm and inviting, and nothing like the school's Rachel and Quinn had ever attended. She was so happy when Beth was accepted, even though you had to pay tuition. Turns out you can put a price on education.

The three of them walked hand in hand, towards the front entrance of the school after parking. There were a lot of students still outside the school, most of them looked older. This building of Melrose only had K-4th grade, but the kids were well separated. Meaning each grade had its own designated wing. Though some kids were still outside playing on the playground, the three of them marched inside, making their way towards the kindergarten wing.

There were a lot of parents in the hallway, some who were still with their child, and others without. Quinn couldn't help but notice a few parents leaving with tears in their eyes, which made Quinn even more anxious.

"Okay, here we are... room 105." Rachel says as they reach the familiar classroom. The three of them stop outside the classroom. "Okay, so before we go inside we need to take some pictures... so I brought my phone. Judy, and my dad's said they wanted pictures of you two." Rachel ushers them to a nearby window and pulls out her phone. "Okay, you two... big smiles." The first photo is perfect, both Quinn and Beth are smiling. Beth was holding her lunch box in one hand and her mother's hand in the other. The next picture is of Quinn and Beth hugging. "Prefect... okay now we can get you to class." Rachel says as she starts to put her phone away.

"Wait, what about Rachel... you need to be in the pictures too." Beth says before her mom can move. Quinn goes to take the phone from Rachel so she can take some pictures with Rachel but is stopped by Beth yet again. "No mama, you need to stay too... we need all of us in it together."

Just as Quinn was about to explain that someone needed to actually take the picture, Tina and Mike come around the corner with the twins. Beth waves as soon as she sees them.

"Well, don't you two look nice today." Rachel says as soon as they get closer. The twins were dressed similar, which was slightly funny considering they were fraternal. They both had blue t-shirts on with blue jeans.

Mike was then volunteered to help take the photo with the three of them in it, which was nice considering they really didn't have many pictures with the three of them together. After the family picture, they then took a group picture of the kids.

They waited until the very last minute before saying goodbye to Beth. Inside the classroom, the teacher waited patiently, helping the kids who were already their hang up their belongings and find their desk.

"Do you guys really have to go?" Beth asks, she gives them the best pout possible.

Quinn kneels down in front of her, "We do…, but like I said we will be right here when you get out, okay?" Beth nods and gives her a hug then turns to hug Rachel as well.

"Have fun today… oh, and this is for your teacher." Rachel hands Beth a red apple. "Make sure you pay attention, and take notes." She says with a smile even though she was kidding about the notes part. "And be ready to tell us everything that happened when we pick you up, okay." Beth nods one more time before entering the classroom. They watch as the five year old hand the twenty sum year old teacher the apple before they turn to leave.

Quinn as trying her best to hold back her tears, which was easier said than done.

"Are you okay, Quinn?" Rachel asks softly as they exit the building.

"Huh… uh, yeah, I think so." Quinn wipes a single tear from her cheek. Rachel reaches out to take her hand. She squeezes it, trying her best to reassure her. "It's silly really, she's just growing up so fast." Quinn sniffles, effectively giving into her emotions.

"Is it weird that I feel the same, I mean, usually by now me and Beth are painting or coloring something. It's going to be weird being in that house and not hearing that contagious laugh." Rachel says as she leans her head against Quinn's shoulder.

By the time they get home the two of them seem to have gotten a hold of their emotions. Sure, Beth was growing up, but the two of them convince themselves that it was a good thing. However, it was still eerie walking into the quiet house.

"Now what?" Quinn asks as she flops down on the couch. She really didn't have much of an agenda today, which was fine by her.

"I have no idea… Movie?" Rachel suggests.

Quinn shrugs and turns on the TV, and starts up the Netflix. The TV was a good way to drown out the quiet of the house. They settled on some romantic comedy, neither of them has seen, it wasn't any good.

At one point, they start wondering what Beth would be up to around now.

Quinn found herself looking more at Rachel than the movie since it was really really predictable.

"You really have to stop staring at me all the time." Rachel grins while not taking her eyes off the screen.

"I can't help it… you hold my attention better than a silly movie." Rachel can't help but smile, she gives Quinn a sideways glance before turning her attention back towards the movie.

Quinn tries to turn her attention towards the movie, that is until Rachel decides to straddle her lap. She wasn't sure how that had happened. One minute she was watching the couple on TV fight, the next the TV was muted and Rachel's arms were wrapped around her neck.

Rachel wasted no time, and kisses Quinn.

"This is a lot better than the movie." Quinn murmurs as they break apart to catch their breath. Rachel nods. The two of them make out for… well Quinn wasn't sure how long. It could have been hours… or five minutes. All she knew was by the time her mind caught up with her body Rachel was only in her underwear. "God you are so beautiful." Quinn breathes out as she takes in the scantily clad woman on top of her. Rachel smirks and captures Quinn's lips ever so lightly.

"Thank you… you're not so bad looking yourself." Rachel Kids. "You know I was thinking… we've been technically dating for over a month now…" Quinn nods. She could help but notice the slight implications in Rachel's voice. "And we had both agreed to wait until Beth wasn't in the house."

"Are you suggesting you want to have sex in the middle of the day Miss Rachel Berry?" Quinn smirks at the thought.

Rachel laughs. "Well… Miss Fabray, that did cross my mind… on more than one occasion." Rachel takes advantage of the situation and leans down to capture Quinn's lips again. The kiss was slow and leaves Quinn wanting more. She almost pulls Rachel back down on top of her when the nanny decides to leave her lap. Rachel takes a few steps away from Quinn before Quinn can get the chance. Rachel actually smiles at the pout Quinn gives her. Like a kid that had their candy taken away.

"I think I'll be in my room" Rachel says matter of fact before slowly backing out of the room. Not even a second later does she hear footsteps following right behind her. Rachel turns as soon as she walks into her room and waits for Quinn to catch up. She tries her best not to laugh when the blonde almost falls down the stairs in her urgency to catch up.

Quinn was breathless to say the least, how couldn't she be. Rachel was stunning.

"Are you going to stand there all day?" Rachel jokes as she sits on the edge of her bed clad only in her undergarments.

Quinn doesn't waste any more time and closes the distance between them. When she gets within arm's reach Rachel grabs a hold of Quinn's pants pocket and pulls her so she standing between her parted legs.

"You have way too much on." Rachel smirks up at the speechless blonde who can't seem to form words. Her fingers quickly unbutton the blonde's pants before guiding them to the floor. After stripping Quinn from her pants and shirt, Rachel quickly pulls the blonde onto the bed swinging her leg over Quinn's body. It was a similar position they had been in upstairs only now Quinn was all the way on her back. Rachel seems to like the top and Quinn wasn't complaining.

Rachel's kisses a path down Quinn's gorgeous body, biding her way slowly down the length of her body.

"These need to come off too." Rachel's fingers curl around the elastic of Quinn's panties who lifts her hips and allows Rachel to pull them far enough down so she can kick them the rest of the way off.

"Now you?" It comes out more as a question than a demand. Rachel smirks at the blonde who was now perched up on her elbows, clad only in her bra.

Rachel then unclasps her bra and throws it behind her. She leans forward and captures Quinn lips with her own. The kiss was caste, but look Quinn's breath away. She didn't even notice the brunette had skillfully unclasps her bra as well.

'She's like a bra ninja.'

Quinn reaches up and pulls Rachel down to her, she wanted, no needed to be kissing her. The kiss is chaste, but powerful and leaves them both a little dizzy. A moan tumbles form Quinn's lips as fingertips brush across her stomach. "Rach… ugh!"

Rachel slowly kisses her way down Quinn's body, stopping to give some much needed attention to both of Quinn's breasts.

Quinn moans as Rachel takes her nipple in her mouth, tugging it ever so slightly, while her fingers dip between Quinn's legs and slowly drag through her wetness.

Quinn bucks upward at the girls much needed touch, searching for more contact.

"You're so wet Quinn" Rachel whispers.

Quinn can't respond to that, she shudders as she feels Rachel's slender fingers part her folds, then teases her swollen clit with slow circles.

"Please… I needed you… inside." She moans.

Rachel didn't need to be told twice as she moves from Quinn's clit, she slowly slips two fingers up and into Quinn, sliding in easily. Quinn's hips jerk at the welcomed intrusion, she can't help but let out a sigh of relief. 'It's been far too long' she thinks as clenches around Rachel's fingers as if trying to pull them deeper, "fuck, t-that's amazing…"

"You're so tight…" Rachel breaths against Quinn's chest, her nose slightly buried in between the blonde's cleavage. Her lips start to kiss over the swells of pale breasts as Quinn grids onto Rachel's fingers. Rachel curls them inside of her.

"OH… GOD…"

Quinn's moans spur Rachel on, she pushes her fingers further into Quinn's heat.

"Yes!" Quinn cries as she feels Rachel's fingers curl inside of her, find that one specific spot that makes her melt. "Ugh… don't stop… don't fucking stop!" Quinn didn't normally swear so much, but there was just something about Rachel that made her. Quinn gasps as her orgasm continuously builds. Rachel's thumb brushes against Quinn's clit once again and rubs tight circles, while the tips of her fingers curl in and brush deeper inside of Quinn. "Soo close… I'm so close" Quinn cries as Rachel once again pushes into her curling her fingers, that along with the stimulating she was getting from Rachel's thumb was enough to finally push her over the edge. She comes hard around Rachel, her sex spasming around tan fingers, as her eyes slam shut so tightly that white spots appear behind her eyelids. Rachel slowly pumps in and out of Quinn trying to draw out the blonde's orgasm as long as possible. "You're incredible." Quinn husks as soon as her heart rate starts to slow. She opens her eyes and sees Rachel smiling, her fingers still inside of her. She slowly slips her fingers out of Quinn, the blondes tight walls contracting as every part of the two digits slip free.

"Don't pout…" Rachel smiles resting her weight in-between Quinn's parted legs. "You're too beautiful to be making such a sad face. Plus… I'm not done with you yet." Rachel husks the last part making Quinn eyelashes flutter at the thought. Rachel quickly captures Quinn's lips in a much needed kiss, her breast brushing against Quinn's. There's a delicious friction created between them as Rachel rocks gently into Quinn and her tongue explores the blonde's mouth. They break for air a few moments later and Rachel's lips attach to Quinn's pulse point, sucking the skin between her lips for a second before trailing them down Quinn's collarbone. "You're so incredibly beautiful Quinn." Rachel murmurs, her eyes never leaving Quinn's.

Quinn watches as Rachel slowly trails kisses down her body once more, she lowers her lips to the wet heat radiating below her mouth and presses a kiss directly to Quinn's center. She watches the way Quinn's stomach muscles ripple and twitch at the contact, then she does it again.

"Oh… Rach-Rachel." Quinn cries as Rachel's tongue finally flattens against her and spreads through her slick folds, parting them with one stroke. Quinn's body is shaking in anticipation.

Rachel's tongue circles Quinn's clit, wiggling against it before her lips wrap around the bud and give a sharp suck.

"Mmm… you taste amazing Quinn." The vibrations of Rachel's words against her sex spike another tremble through Quinn's body, her hips buck up, out of her control. Rachel giggles, her breath blanketing Quinn's core before her tongue dips back down and slips through the wetness again. Rachel continues her slow, teasing concentration of licking and sucking on Quinn's clit until the other woman is practically thrashing around on the bed in desperation.

"Please Rachel… I needed more… please let me cum… please."

Not soon after Quinn asks, does Rachel's tongue run through her core once again, this time pressing into Quinn's entrance. Quinn arches from the bed as she endures the assault of Rachel's tongue. Her thighs shake, then clamp around Rachel's head, as Rachel's tongue manages to find that spot once again, causing Quinn to cum, and cum hard.

Rachel savors the extra gush of liquid that spills from Quinn, trying her best to taste every last drop of the blonde's orgasm.

"That was - was amazing." sure it was cliché… but how else would you descried what just happened. Rachel kisses her way back up Quinn's body, snuggling into the blonde. She hums in agreement. "Do I have time to return the favor?" Quinn asks as her eyelids slowly start to shut. She wasn't tired, but she needed a little time to recover. Two magnificent orgasms will do that to a girl. She feels, Rachel roll away from her for a second to look at the clock next to the bed.

"Quinn…"

"Huh…" Rachel practically rolls out of bed, the action makes Quinn open her eyes. "What are you doing."

"We literally have 10 minutes to pick up Beth from school."

Quinn looks at the clock, it was already 2:40.

"Shit…" she rolls out of the bed. The two of them rush to find their scattered clothing. "Rach… have to seen my bra." Quinn asks.

Rachel was having her own troubles trying to pull on her own clothing. "No… I swear it landed by my dresser."

After finding the majority of their clothes, the two of them quickly pull them on and rush to the car.

Looking at the clock Quinn knew they were going to be late. "Gosh, I'm the worst mother ever, who forgets to pick up their kid on the first day of school." she murmurs to herself mostly, Rachel however hears.

"Beth will understand… plus we're only going to be a little late." Rachel says, trying her best to reassure Quinn.

* * *

><p>So that's it for this chapter… wrote in some sexy times… which is why it took so long to write (cuz I'm terrible at writing them.) I'm not sure what to do for the next chapter… probably be a little flash back from the first day at school in Beth's POV, maybe a little Brittana… and oh… Rachel will probably get a new job… and maybe… Quinn will get to return the favor… maybe.<p> 


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